TO SCHEDULE OR NOT TO SCHEDULE!!!

I've been tagged by Julie from Everyday Mommy.
She decided to re-open the old debate about "Putting baby on a schedule".

Now when I was pregnant with my daughter, being that she was our first, everything was scary and unknown. I didn't know just how important it would be to stick to a routine once the baby was born.
Sure I heard from other moms and family members about "babies usually have their nights and days switched", but I always figured, you know, it can't be that bad, can it???
Well, when you have a baby that sleeps all day long and stays awake all night, you quickly realize that either you put them on a schedule or you will be a walking zombie.

After she was born I devoured parenting books and being that I myself am a creature of routine, I jumped right in. I made lists, I drew up schedules, I wrote everything down and no one was going to deviate from it.
Of course babies don't come with a manual and I soon learnt that if you suddenly go off the usual flow of things, you end up with an extremely cranky child. Now I don't know if that was just MY child, but friends told me they had the same problem. Of course that doesn't mean the world will come to an end, the kids will be cranky or complain but within a day things are back to normal. So please, don't ever feel scared that if you get off the schedule, everything's messed up, it's not.

There's things you can get away with and if you don't do it exactly at the same time, it doesn't make a difference, but for the most part, we stick with the same one everyday.
As kids grow older things change, you no longer need the naps, or the snack time changes or whatever, I've learnt to just play it by ear and readjust as we go.

Mealtimes are at a certain time, bath time and bedtime too. I don't and won't let those slip. Yes there's those few times that something comes up and instead of bedtime being at 7:30pm it ends up being at 8:30 pm, but as a general rule, I try to make sure that they don't stay up past then.

Scheduling may not be for everyone, I had lots of friends who didn't believe in them. Their kids ate and took naps and went to bed whenever it happened, if by 10pm they were still awake, oh well, that's the way it was.
I believe in giving kids structure and to me it seems that they know what to expect at that certain time of the day and they seem to like having their day mapped out. Makes things go a lot smoother for the whole family.

So on which side of the spectrum do I fall? Definitely on the "Putting baby on a schedule"side, works for us so why change?

Again I say, that's just my opinion and I would never presume to say that I'm right or someone who doesn't believe in scheduling is wrong. Lord knows I have enough problems controlling my own life I don't need to be controlling others too.
I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect mom, with the perfect schedule, we all do what we can, and what works for one kid may not necessarily work for another.
Some kids do great with routines and others just don't adapt to them.

So thank you Julie for tagging me, I can't wait to read what some of the other moms had to say.