How You Can Create a Weekly Routine for your Kids
Practical strategies and parenting advice for establishing a consistent and effective routine for your children.
Establishing a routine for children is crucial as they mature and develop their personalities, and it’s vital for their overall growth and development. In this blog, we are going to discuss How You Can Create a Weekly Routine for your kids.
After all, having a consistent schedule not only helps children understand the importance of structure and organization both of which are critical life skills but it also helps set them up for success in terms of learning about goal setting, never giving up, and making room for creativity and enjoyment.
As parents, we have the responsibility to guide our children and help them establish a routine that works for them and for us, too. So whether you’re a new parent or have been doing this job for years, these parenting tips will help you create a routine for your children that will help them thrive.
Why Is It So Important To Create a Routine For Children?
Let’s cut to the chase: with a routine for children, parent life would be anarchy. That’s why creating a schedule for children is one of my favorite pieces of parenting advice of all time. Research shows that the importance of routines for kids is… pretty much endless. Typically, children who have a consistent routine tend to have better emotional regulation, improved sleep patterns, and a greater sense of structure all things that parents crave as their kids grow up.
Even more importantly, having a consistent schedule also helps children better understand what’s expected of them and gives them a much more tangible sense of control over their life and their environment. When children feel like they’re in control, it’s much easier to manage their emotions, expectations, and desires otherwise, tantrums ensue!
4 Parenting Tips To Help You Establish a Routine for Children
When it comes to simple parenting tips, establishing a consistent schedule for your kids is at the top of my list. Why? Because it’s the first step on a journey that eventually leads to more organization, more patience, more emotional intelligence, and even more time to spend with them.
If you’re wondering where to begin, here are 4 pieces of parenting advice that will come in handy for putting together a routine for your kids that’ll help you get started on the right foot:
1. Create a Consistent Schedule
When it comes to How You Can Create a Weekly Routine for your Kids, the most important part is to remain consistent. Consistency in the activities you implement and the times you choose is key to creating a routine that will actually work.
For example, establishing a clear morning routine for your kids one that always incorporates the same elements that they can follow before school or creating a schedule for children that includes regular mealtimes, designated times for school work, and even room for extracurricular activities means the child will slowly begin to recognize these patterns and work to meet them.
This is especially true if they feel like there’s a reward at the end of each “mini-routine” they accomplish like more screen time, a special treat after dinner, the chance to bring friends over, etc.
2. Set Achievable Goals
Another important aspect of creating a routine for children that actually works has to do with goal setting. For this, it’s important to identify the key areas where your child needs the most structure and guidance and set realistic goals for them to meet.
Whether it’s completing their homework before dinner, ticking off their daily chores, or practicing a new skill or afterschool activity, establish goals that are both realistic and specific given their capacity.
When you begin to set clear goals, your child will feel even more motivated to complete them and will also feel a sense of accomplishment once they’ve been achieved all of which will help prepare them for the future.
3. Involve Your Child in the Process and learn How You Can Create a Weekly Routine
One of the most important and simple parenting tips I can give you when it comes to creating a routine for children might sound counterintuitive but it’s incredibly effective and important. Ready? Always involve your child in the routine-building process.
Engaging your child and encouraging them to participate in what they want their routine to look like will help them understand the importance of having a routine and how having structure can help them feel much happier and safe.
This doesn’t mean letting them choose what they do when they do it, though otherwise, we’d all have routines for children that involve hours of screen time and no vegetables. However, giving them to option to think they came up with the routine will also help them feel more motivated to stick to it.
4. Be Flexible
Life ebbs and flows and routines do as well. So even though consistency is so important for creating a routine for children, it’s also important to be flexible and patient when it’s necessary. We need to be willing to adjust the routine as your child’s needs change or when unexpected events arise that are simply out of our control.
Understanding that things change and that plans are sometimes broken will help you and your child maintain a positive attitude and keep the routine on track in the long term after things go back to normal.
Creating a Routine for Children and Sticking to It
Don’t get me wrong: I know creating a routine for children takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s a critical aspect of child development.
We all want our kids to grow up confident, happy, intelligent, and well-equipped to deal with the world, right? Well… creating a consistent schedule can do just that and SO MUCH MORE!
So next time you’re scrambling for parenting tips or looking for parenting advice, repeat this to yourself: “What my child needs is a consistent schedule, and I’m ready to help give that to them.”
