One of the most important things you can do to make your child feel safe is to establish routines in his life. Children and adults feel safer when their lives are predictable. When adults provide environments where children can feel safe, children learn that they can trust others to care for them and meet their needs, so they become free and can relax to explore their world.
Routines and children
The Young children do not fully understand the concept of time, they do not order their lives in hours and minutes, but rather by the events that are happening. When events happen in the same order every day, children have a better understanding of the world, so they feel more secure.
A regular schedule will give children a way of ordering and organizing their lives. When young children know what to expect, they will have more confidence in themselves and in the world around them. They will know that they will not be faced with unusual tasks for which they are not prepared.
A child’s brain and routines
A child’s brain A young child will still be undergoing important development, especially the part of the brain that is capable of planning and making predictions about the future. A routine helps children practice and make those simple predictions, as well as to understand concepts such as “before and after.” Routines also help children develop self-control, knowing that they have to wait until a certain time to do a particular activity. A regular schedule encourages responsibility and independence because children will be able to do more activities on their own if they have done the same activities many times before in the same environment.
A routine is especially important especially in difficult times, such as bedtime or getting dressed in the morning. When there is a routine in place, there is often little discussion about it because behavioral expectations are taken for granted. Therefore,an important advantage of establishing routines is that it will reduce stress itself.Maintaining a routine can seem like an impossible task when it is difficult to maintain a structured schedule with the changes that often occur in life. family, but even the smallest routine implementation can make a big difference.
4 ideas for this establish a routine at home
Remember that it will never be too late to establish routines and that you will always be their greatest example to follow.
- Plan at least one meal a day where the whole family eats together around the table.
- Have a bedtime routine, this will help children calm down and associate some activities with going to bed.
- Work together to understand routines. If your child is very young, you can use a picture board to put their mental structure in order. This way you will be able to look at photos or pictures and know what is coming next.
- Be flexible in routines. Children need to learn how to be flexible and cope to minor changes.
The earlier you start putting your child’s life in order, the easier it will be. When you stick to a routine, you teach your kids how to organize time in ways that are much more efficient, productive, and stress-reducing. The child will feel safe and allow him to internalize ways to organize his life with flexibility as he grows.