In last week's parsha, Bo בא, G-d gives the Hebrew slaves the first commandment that signifies their becoming a nation: He instructs them (and us) how to keep His calendar & establishes the observance of Rosh Chodesh ראש חודש, the new month. With His directive, Hashem gives Am Yisrael "free" time & instruction on how best to use it. Slaves are held accountable for their owners' time; free people for their own; G-d's Chosen People for His.
Parents fall into a unique category; adults free to set their own schedule, concerned with observing G-d's Holy Commandments, suddenly slaves to the wills & wants of their young children. They can either train their babies to follow a schedule, or let them set their own need-based rhythm. Both methods lay waste to the free-time fallacy of adulthood, with the former seeming more demanding, grueling, & unnatural than the latter. Babies are creatures of nature - instinctive, self-driven respondents of whatever need is prevalent at the moment. Is it fair to expect them to be self-sufficient before their time (and to assume we, the adults, know when that time is?) Until they can master object permanence, self-feeding & soothing, and understand "Now it's time to..."; until they can soak up their parents nurture & adapt their nature to the world around them, should we try to force a square peg in a round hole?
I find that whenever I get frustrated with Bubs about his schedule, it's because I'm projecting adult expectations onto my six-month old son. Our best days are those when we get out at some point, eat at some point, and leave the rest to how he's doing (how long he naps, how well he plays, how hungry he is.) There may be a lot of down time, but it's by no means wasted.
