A 'Slow Lived' Day in the Life With A Toddler

A full breakdown of our daily routines & rhythms...

I found my way to slow living back in 2018, three years before I became a mother. I loved it instantly and felt like my life finally made sense, but I worried if it would be possible to continue after having a child.

Everyone loves to tell you when you’re pregnant about how kids make life chaotic, and loud, and not very slow at all.

I remember following Melanie from Geoffrey & Grace back when hardly anyone wrote about slow living, and I thought if she could do it so beautifully with her daughter then so could I.

Nowadays, it seems like slow living is a motherhood-related experience, and while I love that it’s become more mainstream and popular among people raising kids, I know it’s not always something that feels accessible to everyone in the child-bearing years.

So, I thought I would share with you what a typical day with my toddler currently looks like while embracing a slower lifestyle. A few things I want to note: we do utilize screen time as both my husband and I work from home and we’ve yet to find something that distracts her during important work times as much as one of her favorite shows. And, Maverick is very good at independent play.

As I was writing this day out, I realized that we have a pretty typical day to what I imagine most parents do, especially ones of young children. It isn’t revolutionary, by any means, and I’m worried it might even be too boring for you to read. But I’m trying to push that to the side in case it does provide some ideas for you and your routine with littles.

The thing I try to really focus on is presence. We can do all these things but if we’re caught up in frustration over our kids “getting in the way” or mad that an activity didn’t turn out exactly as we’d hoped, we’re missing the opportunity to be completely present with our children exactly as we and they are.

Slow living isn’t about curating an idyllic life, but about removing some of the obligations we impose on ourselves (and our kids!) and embracing flexibility in our day-to-day.

7:30 am - 8 am: My daughter, Maverick, wakes up. We co-sleep and have since the beginning. It wasn’t something I thought I would do when pregnant, but as soon as she was born it was the only thing that felt right to me. Lately, Maverick has been on a kick of waking up at 6, but typically she loves a 7:30-8 wake up time. This is my favorite time of the day because we say good morning, she plays with our dog on the bed, and my husband and I cuddle since we don’t get to at night. Sometimes, Maverick will grab a book or some toys and climb up into bed to play with them. I never rush us out of the room until she shows that she’s ready to go downstairs, usually after 15-30 minutes. To me, this time is just such a great way to connect as a family before our day begins.

8:30 am - 9 am: We’ll saunter downstairs and ‘wake our house up’ by pulling up all the blinds and letting the light in. I’ll usually light a candle or turn on the diffuser. Then, I get right into making breakfast for everyone while Matt pulls out the trash with last night’s diapers and throws on his shoes to go take our dog, Charlotte, for a walk. Charlotte will usually protest, worried that she’s going to miss Maverick’s food droppings if she leaves.

I try to pack in a lot of nutrient-dense foods for breakfast. Maverick isn’t a fan of eggs, and I’ve been on a mission for the last year to try every way to get her to eat them. Ironically, she’ll eat them if I feed them to her but not on her own. Breakfast for her most days is chicken sausage or bacon, yogurt or toast (or my specialty, pancakes!), and a side of fruit with a big glass of orange juice. If we’re feeling lazy or had a bad night the night before, Matt calls it ‘his breakfast’ and gives her some sort of cereal. She loves those mornings, of course. I’ll end up eating a variation of eggs and bacon myself.

9:00 am - 10:00 am: This is when we typically pull out some of Maverick’s toys and turn on a show or movie for her (she currently loves Ms. Rachel, Cuquin, and Toy Story) so we can both check our emails and get set up for the day. I’ll make us cups of tea and off we go.

10:00 am - 12:00 pm: This is our playtime. Matt will usually continue working while I put away my computer and play with Maverick. I typically aim to have one main activity in the morning and one in the afternoon, and the rest of the time we just see where the day takes us.

I don’t like to overload us with activities, but I also want to have a little bit of a plan so we can do something that’s fun for her. It’s incredibly hot where we live right now, so we can’t spend too much time outside which makes me think outside of the box for ideas. I recently got Maverick a water table and put it on our porch, so we spend a ton of time out there playing. If it’s not too hot, we’ll go for a walk around the neighborhood, pointing out all the things we notice and stopping to pick up all the leaves. Sometimes, if we can make it into town, I’ll grab a drink from somewhere and we’ll spend time out and about or meet up with a friend.

This time for me is all about connecting with her and following her lead. I also encourage independent play too or even parallel play. I love to get her involved with loading the dishwasher with me, watering the plants, folding clothes, making a sourdough loaf, organizing her toys, etc. This is when I’ll do some of the house chores and bring her right along with me. I think that’s a huge foundation of slow living with kids, is having them be a part of life and not just doing ‘kid things’ all the time.

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: this time of the day is always a toss-up. Sometimes, Maverick is rubbing her eyes ready for a nap at noon. Other days, she’s wide awake until 1 pm so we’ll have lunch together and then she’ll go down for a nap. She’s typically had an organic smoothie pouch during our playtime, so for lunch she’ll have things like leftovers from dinner the night before, turkey slices, grilled fish, a peanut butter roll-up (she’s obsessed with peanut butter), always some form of fruit, carrot sticks, beans or peas, and a drink. I usually have some form of a sourdough sandwich or a loaded salad and will make Matt the same.

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm-ish: Maverick always takes a really good 2-3 hour nap. This time is crucial for me. As soon as I finish laying with her until she’s asleep, I’ll head back downstairs and immediately dive into 30-45 minutes of self-care. For me, this could mean doing a workout if I’m feeling motivated, or pulling some tarot cards and journaling, meditating, or reading my latest book while taking a bath. Whatever it is, I do something at this time for me. No matter what is waiting or how busy life seems, I always slow down and give myself this time and it’s a great way to break up the day. Plus, I can never seem to get myself out of bed in the morning without waking everyone so middle of the day ritual it is.

Maverick has had a few days where she’s started to refuse nap time, so on those days I will sometimes set her up for quiet time for herself by looking at a picture book, coloring, or just playing independently with her toys. But most of the time, I’ll just include her in my self-care routine. I am a big proponent of not feeling like you have to have a perfect environment to embrace slow living. Sometimes, she’s trying to pull my mat up while I’m doing yoga, or grabbing all my tarot cards in the middle of a reading. But other times, she’ll sit next to me quietly and watch. I believe that involving her in these experiences will empower her to feel confident in nourishing herself as she grows. I also want her to know that I am filling my own cup, too.

Once I’ve finished this routine, I’ll make another cup of tea and settle in on the couch with my computer. This is my focused work time. I will either edit photos from a session I recently did or have calls and do my day job work. I can now get done in an hour and a half what used to take me half a day because I know that this is the most focused amount of time I am going to have. I also have one specific rule during her nap time and that’s to not do anything I can do while she’s awake. So I don’t clean the house, or do the laundry, or wash dishes. I just do work and what I need for me.

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Maverick will wake up around this time. I love going to get her because she’s so cuddly. We’ll lay in bed, play and cuddle until she’s ready to get up. Then, I’ll make her a snack of some sort and we’ll sit on the couch together.

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: If I have a lot to get done, I’ll continue working during this time and Matt will take Maverick out to do something. Otherwise, we’ll try to get outside. This can look like hopping in the pool (which is what we’re doing most days since it’s sweltering outside), going to the beach, going for a long walk, taking a ball to the green to kick around, visiting the playground to meet some new friends, heading to the splash pad in our neighborhood, or just exploring our own backyard. It’s such a nice time to decompress from the day and have some focused quality time together out in nature.

If we have errands to run, we’ll either cut into some of this time or our morning playtime, but we only try to do that 1-2 times a week.

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm: We’ll have dinner. I have to admit we go out with my parents quite a bit or they cook for us, at least a few times a week. Both my parents work, so this is usually when we can see them and it’s so nice for Maverick to be close with her grandparents. On days when we’re at home, I’ll cook something like chili, spaghetti bolognese, roasted chicken with veggies, some type of curry, or make a roast in the crockpot. I try to cook a warming meal with bioavailable meat or beans/lentils, root vegetables, rice or pasta, and a side of sourdough.

I love this time spent around the table chatting and enjoying each other’s company. I think it’s my favorite part of the day.

7:00 pm - 8:30/9 pm: once 7 hits, Matt will clean up dinner and take Charlotte for her evening walk while I put Maverick in the bathtub. I love to load her bath with all sorts of sleepy time things, and lots of toys. She’ll typically spend at least a half hour just playing games in the tub. Sometimes, if I’m overstimulated for the day, I’ll take some time to scroll through Instagram or read Substack posts. But I try to keep my phone to the side so I can play peekaboo with her or get involved in her bath time somehow.

Once she’s out, Matt will wrestle with her. She absolutely loves getting her tiny heart rate up. I think she’s an adventure seeker through and through. He’ll throw her around and they’ll roughhouse for a while until she starts to rub her eyes and signal that she’s ready to sleep. I’ll read her a couple of books while she drinks some milk with oats in it and her sleepy time herbal remedy, I’ll rub her feet with magnesium lotion, and then I’ll get her all cozy in her floor bed (she currently sleeps in her floor bed until sometime between 12 and 2, then she’ll crawl into bed with us) and lay with her until she falls asleep.

I want to note that this bedtime routine is a more recent thing, and we’ve also had ups and downs of us getting into bed with her and watching tv, or keeping her up later to see if she’ll sleep better at night. We are by no means perfect, but I do love the nights where she’ll get to bed between 8 and 9 and we can have some time just the two of us.

9:00 pm - 10:30 pm: If I’m extra tired, I’ll go ahead and go to bed when Maverick does. But most nights, I’ll sneak back downstairs and spend time with Matt. We’ll watch a tv show and eat something sweet. Or, I’ll get any work done that I didn’t get to during the day and he’ll play a video game. Sometimes I read. It just depends.

I also want to add that I write these Substack posts at super random times. Mostly, it’s 5-10 minute spurts here or there and it’ll take me all day to write a post, sometimes I’ll have the time while she’s napping, sometimes it’s at night after everyone is asleep. I try to be pretty fluid with my inspiration and go with the flow.

10:30 pm: It’s time to head to bed. Matt will typically tidy up while I load the dishwasher once more, and then we’re off to bed ourselves before Maverick has her first wake-up of the night.

And there you have it! A typical ‘slow lived’ day in our life. I’m sure our routine will grow and change as Maverick gets older, if we decide (and are able) to have another little one, or as life just evolves. But this is what we call slow living currently. If anything, it’s purposeful living. Doing things throughout our day that feel good, not just because we should or shouldn’t do that thing.

I hope maybe this has given you some inspiration for realizing that a slow-lived life is completely attainable no matter how your life looks currently, and maybe you’re already following a routine that’s super similar to this one and you just didn’t realize it. Nothing I do is revolutionary, it’s just focused on simple & intentional moments nurturing my family unit.

I’d love to know what you do to instill presence and togetherness in your family.