[Justaduck]

My daughter has always been easy going. Never had to be home for nap or anything & still sleeps fine at night. The only time her night sleep was affected was when we had late nights for over a week with the lead up to Christmas

[Eight.years]

I'm not a 'routine' parent or a 'relaxed' parent. I'm a responsive parent.

My first child was fairly easy going. Most days had the sort of loose routine that you may fall into when things tend to happen at the same time each day but it was not strict or imposed. There was a bedtime but it could be earlier or later depending on events on the day. Naptime could be skipped, mealtimes were flexible. It worked.

My second child desperately craves routine and loses the plot completely if she doesn't know what's going to happen and when. If we mess with bedtime or mealtimes even slightly she is miserable and she likes to share her misery. We'd be foolish to force her to our preferences when she's communicating so effectively that she really isn't able to cope with them yet, so for now there's a routine and we stick to it. It's not about catering to her whims, it's about respecting her limits.

I wouldn't define my parenting style by the approach we took with either child.

[MarissaRoberts]

I was really structured with my first and it worked so well, she was happy & content, slept well and rarely cried.
With my second I started off just as structured for the first year, it went well too. But now that she's getting closer to 2 years I find I'm a bit more relaxed about diet and nap times and our plans are now being made to suit the family and not just around the youngest. It's a bit more give and take and the are a few 'not perfect' moments, but there's also a lot of fun happy memories and more getting out and about as a family and I feel a bit more balanced.
Bed times though are still set in stone at our house! LOVE my kids but love 7pm just as much

[Jess1308]

Routine house here. Have copped a little bit of flack from relatives for being rigid, anxious for sticking to our routine, but it works for us.

[junebuggy11]

Somewhere in between for us. He sleeps in the pram/car/ergo so if we are out and he seems tired he has the chance to nap. I try for the most part to have him home for his nap, but it's not set in stone.
for the most part we do our evening routine in a fairly consistent manner, but if we want to go out, we do it. I know we will likely have to adjust the next days activities to allow for a little more sleep to catch up, but he's generally pretty flexible.

I see it to be all about give and take for us. It's worked with this one... who knows about the next?