Consistent Routines and Structures Support Preschoolers

  5 Things to Know or Do

1. Your child does best when he or she knows what to expect each day. Establishing a predictable daily schedule at home can help your child feel more secure, which is especially important during this time of extreme change and worry.
2. The Family Routine Guide from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) includes strategies for common routines and activities that occur during the family’s week.  It shares “why” each routine might be difficult and common steps to make the routine easier to complete.
3. Integrate a learning theme into each part of the day. Home Learning for Young Children: A Daily Schedule  by Reading Rockets includes sample daily schedules with ideas for how to integrate a learning theme into activities throughout every part of the day.
4. “A visual daily schedule helps create a sense of safety by providing a predictable pattern and displaying it in an easily accessible way.” Conscious Discipline has free resources (visual pictures) to support children with the learning of routines. Sign up for free on the Conscious Discipline site to download resources.
5. The use of visual supports help children better understand what is being asked of them. “Take a Look!” is a resource from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute for ideas on how to use visual supports.

 4 Children Read Alouds

1.  My Good Morning by Kim Crockett-Corson 

   Two sleepy parents attempt to supervise a small girl as she gets ready for school and insists she can do everything herself.

2.  Hurry Up! A Book About Slowing Down by Kate Dopirak

   A busy boy and his dog learn to slow down and enjoy life together in this lyrical, rhyming picture book perfect for hurried families everywhere.

3.  Llama Llama Mess, Mess, Mess by Anna Dewdney

   Llama Llama is growing up, but he still loves to play with all his toys! When Mama Llama says it's time to clean up, Llama responds like any child more interested in playing than cleaning . . . by ignoring her! But Mama has an imaginative response of her own. Here is a truly funny take on a childhood chore that all children will relate to and laugh at! And it is sure to be helpful to get kids cleaning up. 

4.  Even Superheros Have to Sleep by Sara Crow

   It’s bedtime for superheroes . . . and KIDS! Young ones will enjoy this sweet, short rhyming story that lulls them into bedtime with the promise that all their heroes are getting tucked into bed too.

3 Links to Visit

1. CDC: Creating Structures and Rules
2. nbcnews.com: 12 Tips to Master Your Kids’ Morning Routine and Eliminate Stress
3. FCPS: Seven Ideas for Incorporating Mindfulness into Your Routine : The goal of mindfulness is not only to remain calm, but rather to take notice of feelings and thoughts which helps with stress management and resilience. Daily mindfulness practice is a healthy addition to routines at home and school.

 2 Videos to View

1. ECLKC: Schedules  and Routines
2. YouTube: Parenting Minutes: Routines 

  More than 1 Point to Access Research

1. Benefits of a bedtime routine in young children: Sleep, development, and beyond, US National Library of Medicine & National Institutes of Health
2. The Effects that Consistent Routines have on Transitions, Seiberlich, Sarah L.. (2016). The Effects that Consistent Routines have on Transitions. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/maed/142
3. Family Routines and Rituals:  A Context for Development in the Lives of Young Children, Mary Spagnola, PhD; Barbara H. Fiese, PhD, Infants & Young Children, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 284–299, Copyright c 2007 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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