What Are The Benefits Of Routines For Children?

By establishing routines for children, they learn valuable principles that can last a lifetime, such as discipline and accountability. 

It is crucial to develop good habits in order to build character in children. Although routines can be seen as limiting, they are necessary for the little ones. Routines teach children a myriad of valuable lessons. We will explain some of the valuable lessons that can be learned below.

Routines are created for the purpose of teaching children appropriate behaviors and good habits. It is an effective way to learn behavioral lessons because routines are difficult to modify once they have been established. For example, children can always learn to brush their hair before going out the door, or brush their teeth after every meal.

Good habits do not always occur naturally. Many of them need to be taught. They can also give children healthy guidelines to follow from a very young age.

When to start establishing routines for children?

You should not wait too long to start establishing routines for children. It can be done almost from the moment they are born. It is not uncommon for children to start learning the first routines before they become 1 year old.

If we let too much time go by, children can acquire bad habits that are difficult to change. 

Establishing a meal plan and a fixed bath time and bedtime from a young age will help children adapt to new routines as they get older as more and more activities are added to their days.

To a large extent  , this will facilitate their adaptation to new routines when they first start in primary school, then later in high school and also begin to participate in leisure activities. 

From a young age, children copy what they see, whether it is good or bad. This is because, to begin with, they do not have the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. This is the reason why it is best to teach them habits and routines by setting an example with your own daily activities.

The importance of habits and routines for children

Establishing schedules and respecting routines brings a large number of benefits to children, including the following:

• It teaches them how to be neat and organized.
• It promotes the development of autonomy.
• It creates security and stability.
• It creates a calm environment.
• It reduces the degree of insecurity and anxiety because the activities are predictable.

The first thing we should establish with our children is the times of eating, bathing and sleeping. It is advisable that you stick to these times and respect the family schedule on a daily basis.

As they get older, it will be necessary to add new activities to the schedule, such as time to study and play, without interfering with the routines that have already been established.

Habits, routines and their relation to learning

In itself, habits are a form of learning that establishes self-regulatory behavior and discipline. For example, they help children adapt to the school system. In the classroom, especially in elementary school, teaching children to follow routines is one of the primary learning goals.

Similarly  , the creation of habits and fixed schedules promotes the understanding of time sequences and spaces, in addition to helping children direct their attention to specific tasks. 

They also help children learn to plan and work to achieve certain goals on a daily basis. It helps children learn and complete an activity effectively instead of postponing or leaving tasks half-finished.

Benefits of routines for children

Having pre-established routines will help the youngest members of the family learn how to behave. This should have the support of the whole family, who should all do their part to be an example.

At the same time, acquiring good, daily habits as part of a routine can help children learn to:

• Anticipate what is coming and deal with anxiety.
• Easily adapt to different situations.
• Get organized  by learning at a pace that will serve them well as adults.
• Recognize that there are norms and boundaries one must respect.

Keep in mind that establishing effective routines for children requires you to patiently guide them by being an example. It requires a team effort from the whole family. Otherwise, children may begin to acquire bad habits.

Your children have a myriad of abilities and talents to explore and develop. The more good habits they acquire, the better chances they have of success, no matter what they want to achieve in the future.