Who needs routines?
Why are routines important? The simple answer: when we know what is coming we tend to feel more in control. Children control very little in their everyday life. Since so much is not in their control, providing them with routine helps them feel in control. We create routines in the classroom from the moment the children walk in the door...
1st routine inside our classroom: Unpack and “check in”
At the Clubhouse, children start each day in the same way. It looks like this: they come inside, take off their belongings, hang them on the fence post, put their lunchbox on the floor, and then go “check in.” “Check in” is by the front door, it typically involves them letting us know they are here today by moving their name card into a basket (as the year progresses so does this task, it goes from first to last name, to sometimes phone numbers, it also can evolve to them answering a yes or no question.) This is the first routine they learn, and we do it everyday. By mid year, when they are arriving with more belongings (hats, gloves, heavy coats) we can plug these new items right into the routine, and the children modify with little disruption. It is a solid routine, and it can be adjusted to meet the needs of the child and the group.
Routines and expectations go hand in hand. By providing a routine with clear expectations, you set your child up for greater success. The routine allows them to know what is coming, and the expectation allows them to know what to do. Let’s take a quick sidebar about setting up expectations. Short, simple and clear is the best approach. Start with the very basics, then increase your expectations as your child masters/meets them. For example, in our classroom at the start of the year we spend the first few weeks setting up what circle-time will look like and sound like. We provide a visual of our expectations, we go over each visual and explain what it is and what it means, and then we practice it. For 2-3 weeks we just go over these expectations and by doing this we establish the routine (see what happened there...tied the two concepts right back into each other) Every aspect of our day is based on creating a routine and establishing the expectation.
What happens when your routine has to change? How do you cope. We all handle changes to our routines differently. Routines are a bit of a Catch-22. We work really hard to learn them and rely on them, and then something comes along and changes it, forcing us to modify the routine. Things will always change, this is the predictability of life. Your routines should be a guide to help manage and make things feel smoother, but they have to be “bendy”.
How you can successfully navigate changes to routines:
Acceptance: coping with change is necessary. It is what it is.
Provide warning when possible. Give your child a heads up that things are going to be different and what they new expectation is with the change.
Use visual schedules whenever possible. Simple pictures to show a routine can do BIG things
Reassure them of what is staying the same. Then provide details about what will be different.
Talk about changes when they don’t happen. Model the language and coping skill you have for your children when things haven’t changed, so you can show them it is like. It can be simple changes to your routine, nothing complicated. For example: while eating dinner, talk about how you went to make coffee this morning and realized you didn’t have any, so you stopped at Wawa instead. No big deal. When you model little changes to routine, it helps set ground work for big changes.
Keep it short, simple and clear. Try not to overtalk changes.
Get back on track as soon as you can. Just remember, this step can be tricky but not impossible. Expect the hiccups, and they don’t feel as bad.
Sometimes you work so hard to establish a clear routine, and it still doesn’t work. Now what? Go back to the beginning. Think about what is working and what is not working. What is your child’s responsibility in the routine? What expectations have been established? Can it be simplified? Just remember things can adjust, new normals can be created, and routines can be “bendy”.
Visuals
Creating a visual gives clear meaning to our words, and children will associate the picture to the expectation/routine.