Health & Medical Parenting

How Child Behavior is Helped by Instilling Routines in Children"s Everyday Lives

Routines can be incredibly beneficial.
They are an integral part of most adult's lives.
But it is not just adults that can benefit from the use of routines.
Children also need routines in their lives too.
Not only do routines make life simpler, they can also help you in teaching your child new skills as well as modifying their behavior.
What are some other ways a routine helps your child? Routines help build your child's self-confidence by helping them master skills.
Routines also help children learn how long tasks take to complete because they know exactly what steps to take to complete something.
The first thing to do in setting a routine for your child is to break up their day into sections.
Then you can create mini routines for the various parts of your child's day.
As well, if there are particular days where your child is involved in sports or other extra-curricular activities, be sure to incorporate these activities into their routines.
Having routines will allow your child to know what to expect and create less stress in their life, thus resulting in better behavior and attitude.
Here are a few tips on creating routines for children: Morning Routines When school starts up again after summer, Christmas, or spring break, mornings can definitely become a hectic time of day.
The creation of a morning routine ensures your child gets ready for school, has a much needed breakfast, and prepares and equips them with everything they need for the school day.
From homework to permission slips, routines encourage remembering.
Now, this remembering actually stems from preparation the previous day as morning routines actually begin the night before with your child's bedtime routine.
We'll discuss this routine in more detail later.
As for the AM, by having a morning routine of getting up at the same time, eating breakfast, and dressing and grooming, your child will have less stress and be well prepared for the dayIf they're less stressed, they'll feel much better when they arrive at school and will be more attentive and well behaved in class.
Not only will your child be more effective in class but your child's teacher will appreciate their behaviour as well.
After School Routines Upon your child's returning home after the school day, another part of their day is ready for the next routine.
You should however, try to allow some time for your child to relax and decompress for a little while, before having them dive into their homework.
To make sure their energy isn't waning, you can provide them with a snack to refresh their body and mind.
If they have chores to do, this could be a good place to include them in the routine, provided it fits your chore scheduling.
Once the chores are finished, they can move onto their homework.
Who knows, by doing things in this order they may actually want to do their homework if it means not doing more chores! After school routines can be helpful in showing your child how to manage their time and teaching them how to allocate their resources and determine priorities.
Bedtime Routines Bodily grooming and care can be part of this routine.
Things like showering and brushing their teeth should be included.
Not only will this help your child wind down after the day but it can also save them time the next morning by showering the night before.
This time can also be used to select their clothes for the following day, and making sure all of their books and papers are packed in their backpack or book bag.
Once all these things are done, dependent on their age, they can then settle in for a bedtime story or reading time on their own.
So having said all this, obviously each family is going to be different.
Because of this, no one routine will satisfy every family's needs.
Feel free to play around and determine what suits you and your children.
You should strive to create the routines that work best for your family and its specific situation because if you do, you will definitely see positive changes in your child's behavior and attitude.


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