A Routine Thing
Bumpy and I recently returned from a trip to New Jersey to visit with our daughters, son-in-law, and granddaughter. We had an early Christmas visit, complete with baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, playing games, exchanging gifts and even snow!
While we had a wonderful time, it was also nice to return home and resume the normal routines associated with everyday life!
As I thought about how getting back into my routine was comforting, I also thought about how during this very busy time of the year, it is sometimes difficult for grown ups to keep the family routines going and it can be an especially confusing and tiring time for little ones.
An article by Oliver Burkeman written for the guardian, contained information about daily routines of some of history's most creative minds. For example, Benjamin Franklin spent his mornings naked, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ernest Hemingway were both extremely early risers, and Tchaikovsky believed he had to take a daily walk of exactly two hours and anything less would cause great misfortunes to befall him.
I have my own little "rituals" that begin my day, although they don't involve getting up early or going around naked, I'm just saying. Mine involve mostly feeding, watering, and walking dogs and vacuuming up massive amounts of dog hair. Even in retirement, life can be exciting!
New parents are often encouraged to get the baby into a "routine" so they will sleep all night. Good luck with that. Seriously, routines can be introduced as early as about three months of age. Exposing the baby to sunlight during the day and establishing a simple "bedtime" routine of a soothing bath will begin the associations to form routines as they grow older.
The importance of routines with toddlers is crucial to help them feel safe as well as giving them some feeling of control in their lives. A routine can prove beneficial during particularly difficult times of day such as getting dressed in the mornings and settling down for nap time or bedtime.
I was visiting a toddler classroom as children were finishing lunch. Children were being cleaned up and then playing with toys. Suddenly the lights dimmed and classical music began playing. All of the children stopped what they were doing and began to pay attention to the changes in the room. As time progressed, cots were placed and blankets were passed out and before you know it, all children were on their way to sleepy town. These children were under two years of age, folks, yet they knew exactly what was going to happen next in their day!
As children grow older, routines can become more complex. For example, a bedtime routine for a preschool age child might include, taking a bath, brushing teeth, reading a story, and talking about their day as lights are dimmed and covers are tucked in. They can also begin to understand the use of prep time for routines, such as, counting down the time left before leaving the house or beginning to get ready for bed. Making a picture schedule together can also help keep things moving along. The child can illustrate the times written in by the grown up and feel some ownership as well as express their creativity.
Classrooms with established routines and those without are like night and day. I often encouraged teachers in classrooms where behaviors were, shall we say, less than ideal, to close their eyes and imagine what they wanted the room to look and feel like.
After that was accomplished, I recommended a "two week cleansing". This would be a time spent focusing on exactly the outcomes that the teacher wanted to see. The implementation of changes of even the smallest consequence often helped establish routines and create calm out of chaos. It's never too late to establish routines. Sometimes you just have to back up and say, "this doesn't seem to be working, let's try something else today and see if it works better for all of us."
Routines and schedules are important for young children as well as older children and even adults, if you think about it because:
- They influence a child's emotional, cognitive, and social development.
- They help children feel secure.
- They help children understand expectations.
- They help reduce behavior problems.
- They can result in higher ratio of child engagement.
All this being said, remember that children also need to realize the importance of being flexible when things need to change, so don't be too rigid when developing and maintaining routines. When things have to change, returning to the same routine as soon as possible will help ease the stress.
Taking a break from the same old, same old is sometimes necessary and welcomed. But I also find a certain comfort in returning to established routines even if they do involve massive amounts of dog hair.
That's it for now.
Check back later!
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| Bumpy, Anna, and Nana |
As I thought about how getting back into my routine was comforting, I also thought about how during this very busy time of the year, it is sometimes difficult for grown ups to keep the family routines going and it can be an especially confusing and tiring time for little ones.
An article by Oliver Burkeman written for the guardian, contained information about daily routines of some of history's most creative minds. For example, Benjamin Franklin spent his mornings naked, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ernest Hemingway were both extremely early risers, and Tchaikovsky believed he had to take a daily walk of exactly two hours and anything less would cause great misfortunes to befall him.
I have my own little "rituals" that begin my day, although they don't involve getting up early or going around naked, I'm just saying. Mine involve mostly feeding, watering, and walking dogs and vacuuming up massive amounts of dog hair. Even in retirement, life can be exciting!
New parents are often encouraged to get the baby into a "routine" so they will sleep all night. Good luck with that. Seriously, routines can be introduced as early as about three months of age. Exposing the baby to sunlight during the day and establishing a simple "bedtime" routine of a soothing bath will begin the associations to form routines as they grow older.
The importance of routines with toddlers is crucial to help them feel safe as well as giving them some feeling of control in their lives. A routine can prove beneficial during particularly difficult times of day such as getting dressed in the mornings and settling down for nap time or bedtime.
I was visiting a toddler classroom as children were finishing lunch. Children were being cleaned up and then playing with toys. Suddenly the lights dimmed and classical music began playing. All of the children stopped what they were doing and began to pay attention to the changes in the room. As time progressed, cots were placed and blankets were passed out and before you know it, all children were on their way to sleepy town. These children were under two years of age, folks, yet they knew exactly what was going to happen next in their day!
As children grow older, routines can become more complex. For example, a bedtime routine for a preschool age child might include, taking a bath, brushing teeth, reading a story, and talking about their day as lights are dimmed and covers are tucked in. They can also begin to understand the use of prep time for routines, such as, counting down the time left before leaving the house or beginning to get ready for bed. Making a picture schedule together can also help keep things moving along. The child can illustrate the times written in by the grown up and feel some ownership as well as express their creativity.
Classrooms with established routines and those without are like night and day. I often encouraged teachers in classrooms where behaviors were, shall we say, less than ideal, to close their eyes and imagine what they wanted the room to look and feel like.
After that was accomplished, I recommended a "two week cleansing". This would be a time spent focusing on exactly the outcomes that the teacher wanted to see. The implementation of changes of even the smallest consequence often helped establish routines and create calm out of chaos. It's never too late to establish routines. Sometimes you just have to back up and say, "this doesn't seem to be working, let's try something else today and see if it works better for all of us."
Routines and schedules are important for young children as well as older children and even adults, if you think about it because:
- They influence a child's emotional, cognitive, and social development.
- They help children feel secure.
- They help children understand expectations.
- They help reduce behavior problems.
- They can result in higher ratio of child engagement.
All this being said, remember that children also need to realize the importance of being flexible when things need to change, so don't be too rigid when developing and maintaining routines. When things have to change, returning to the same routine as soon as possible will help ease the stress.
Taking a break from the same old, same old is sometimes necessary and welcomed. But I also find a certain comfort in returning to established routines even if they do involve massive amounts of dog hair.
That's it for now.
Check back later!
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