Routines for families

A routine helps create a timetable for busy family life. Having a routine has lots of benefits; it helps your child(ren) understand your expectations and can help both children and adults feel calmer and more settled to know what you’re doing when. Young children like predictable, consistent routines. It helps them feel secure as they know what is happening and can help to build their self-confidence.

Routines can also be an opportunity to build special family moments into family life eg. Reading stories at bedtime, or doing something fun at the weekend.

Top tips

• Aim to create routines around the busier/more challenging parts of your day . 
• Come up with an order of events within the routine for that part of the day, think about how long each part of the routine takes but be realistic about how long each bit takes.
• Communicate the routine in a way that your child will understand. You could create visual cues by using images from the internet or newspapers or magazines to illustrate each step of the routine.
• Praise your child for completing each stage of the routine.

• Sometimes it helps to use a timer and always keep encouraging your child.
• Stick to the routine for a week and get everyone in the house to encourage and praise.
• Don’t give up too soon, it takes a few goes for a child to learn a new routine. 
• When this routine is established, you can move onto another difficult part of the day.
• Books or stories can help your child to understand how everybody uses routines in different parts of their day.
• Remember that routines will need to change as children get older.
• Sometimes routines need to be flexible to allow for special occasions such as holidays or celebrations. It helps to prepare your child so you can both enjoy special days and be realistic that it may take a few days to get back into the routine after the holiday or event.