Toddlers and preschoolers thrive on routine. They love the comfort of knowing what their day is going to be like. This most clearly applies to meal-times, naptimes and bedtime. But, routines can help with more mundane tasks of daily life too. Have your kids get dressed at the same time every day, in the same room in the house. When you are potty training, schedule potty visits into the day so that they are expected and not unwelcome interruptions. Read the same number of books every day night before bed. Kids are really smart. As soon as you introduce a bit of variation (like getting dressed in the den in front of the TV on some mornings, or reading five books instead of two some nights), you are setting yourself up for future struggles (“But last night, we read five books!”) and your are confusing your kid (“Wasn’t I a good enough girl today to get five books again?”). The sameness might seem dull to you, but eliminates countless struggles and endless confusion for your little ones.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 8:20 pm and is filed under Calm Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response below, or trackback from your own site.