Curfew for decisions

Yesterday I was talking to a good friend of mine who was lamenting the amount of homework that our children have at their school. Both our daughters go to an all girls school which prides itself on its academic prowess and rigorous curriculum. She was talking about how her daughter was incredibly frustrated with the paper she was writing. My friend was trying to calm down her child and was consoling her but to no avail. Her daughter was distraught because she had to make a decision when writing the paper and just couldn't decide what to do.

I told her that we have a curfew for decisions in our house. No major decisions after 10 pm. It started years ago when the girls were in middle school and I noticed that the "witching hour" had switched from 5-6 pm (when they were toddlers) to 10-11 pm as they approached middle and high school. I realized, after many frustrating tearful chaotic nights, that as the evenings wore on and the homework got more and more complicated, they would start to break down. They were tired. They were overwhelmed. And they had forgotten to make a decision about something.

Thus the curfew.

It really didn't matter what they were trying to decide. Big or small, it was that little thing that pushed them over the edge into crying frustration. They felt COMPLETELY inadequate and essentially paralyzed because they had to make yet ANOTHER decision. And they were at their limit.

Over the years, I have used it myself. It doesn't prevent me from making any decision, it just allows me to make a decision when I am not exhausted. It reminds me of that great line from Scarlett in Gone With the Wind to"think about that tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day." Maybe she was onto something!!