How to Set Up a Routine

No matter your child's age — baby or teenager, toddler or pre-teen — they benefit from a routine. Heck, adults need routine. It's what keeps us all sane.

Today I want to share how you can set up a good, consistent routine by getting your kid involved with its creation, and how to make sure they're consistent with it.

Why Your Kid Has to Help Plan the Routine

Kids don’t like being told what to do all the time, and the only way we can get them to consistently follow the schedule without a fight is by getting their buy-in.

When it comes to routine, that means you decide what needs to be done, and they choose the order it can be done in. That way, they feel like they had some control over what their day looks like, and they're way more likely to actually do it.

Step-by-Step Planning

But before we involve them, let’s get prepared by deciding what, exactly, you need to have in the routine. After that, we’ll put each item on a small piece of paper and have the kids help us arrange them.

If you're just starting out with structure after a few weeks (or months) with nothing, just create a Morning and Evening routine, and leave the stuff in the middle a bit loose until you get closer to school time. 

Tip: Make sure you involve physical activity as a way to anchor routines. This is done in schools and is proven to help kids concentrate and pay attention. It breaks up the day between morning and day (and day and evening). We usually do a walk around the neighborhood.

Example routine for kids 2 - 4

Example routine for ages 5 - 7 

Example routine for ages 8 - 12

Step-by-Step:

1. Decide what needs to be in the routine
2. Write each one on a piece of paper (or download this free printable), and leave a few extra pieces blank so your kids can add anything they think you've missed. Pre-readers can do this too! Just use something that's easy for them to grasp, like this magnetic routine chart.
3. Tell your older kids, "I want us to all be happy and healthy, and I read online that one big way to do that is by making sure we do the same things in the morning and the same things in the evening every day. Let's figure out what those things are together." Tell your younger kids, "here are the things we need to do in the morning! Let's decide how to do it together."
4. Say, "here are the things I thought we could start with, but if you think I missed anything, we have some blank pieces, too." Let your child arrange the order.
   
   
   
   
5. Once they're done, take a picture of the finished product and turn it into something cute.

If your child has a learning difference like ADHD, hang the routine in lots of places. In our house, it's in the living room, my daughter's bathroom, and the kitchen. 

How to Get Them to Actually Stick to a Routine Without Nagging

In short, timers are your BFF. I have a love-hate relationship with our Alexa, but one of the reasons I love her is that she's a stand-in for me in the nagging department.

Once we created the routine and hung it on the wall, I asked my daughter when she thought she should start her morning routine. She decided that she should be able to watch 20 minutes of YouTube on her iPad, so I used the Screen Time setting to limit the app to 20 minutes, but you can also use parental control apps.

In your house, you might set an actual time (like 9 a.m. for example) using an alarm on Alexa or your child's device. 

The key to their consistency is your consistency, and setting alarms on devices means you don't forget, either!

If you’ve found this helpful, please SHARE it with the parents and teachers you know! My goal is to help kids cope with uncertainty, especially when it comes to big hard things — like going back to school during a coronavirus pandemic.