Routines make life run more smoothly, for both parents and children. But the benefits of consistency go deeper when it comes to your child’s development, especially in their early years. 

Daily routines represent a structure and predictability, which helps children feel safe and nurtured. Depending on the routine, they can also help children develop healthy habits early on. If every evening after dinner your child knows to go to the bathroom, wash their hands and brush their teeth, this basic hygiene ritual will likely stay with them through their later childhood years, adolescence, and beyond. 

The Benefit of Morning Routines

Mornings can seem like a whirlwind for families, but having a pre-structured “schedule” that repeats every morning not only helps maintain a sense of order, but it also gives your child a healthy, consistent start to their day. 

Routines don’t have to be elaborate to be effective. It can be as simple as your child knowing that as soon as they wake up, they should go to the bathroom, and then head to the kitchen for breakfast, before going back upstairs to get dressed and ready for their day. 

If your child is at the age where they can dress themselves, picking out their clothes with them the night before is a great way to add ease to their morning routine, as well as incorporating this choice into their evening routine, as well.

Goodbye Rituals

Outside of routines that include tasks and activities, there are immense benefits to creating small rituals with your children throughout other parts of their day, including drop-off at school or child care. Much like routines at home, these don’t have to be elaborate, but can simply be an exchange of words, a hand motion, or a “secret” hand shake that children can associate with drop-off, because they also consciously associate it with the knowledge that you will be coming back to get them at the end of the day. Writing “love notes” at drop off to your child can give them a bit of you to hold onto and “read” during the day, too.

Evening/Bed-Time Routines

It’s no secret that children don’t always love bed-time, so utilizing a structured, diligent night time routine is a great way parents can ease the “pushback” children will sometimes have to going to bed. 

If your child loves books, make it an evening ritual to read at least one book together before bed, because it becomes something your child can look forward to, rather than simply “dreading” when it’s time to go to bed. 

Evening routines are also one of the best times to establish healthy sleep habits. Stopping screen time at a designated time prior to bed, and opting for quiet reading or conversation instead is important. This is a great way to help your children to begin learning to relax and unwind their minds prior to crawling into bed, contributing to better, healthier sleep. 

Routines look different for every household, every parent, and every child, but, as we’ve said, the great thing is that they don’t have to be elaborate. Often, your child is engaging in more routines than you realize, and you’ll find that the consistency of routine is a key to their cognitive, social, and emotional development.