When we first brought our oldest son home, we did not have any routines established. It took us a while to come out of the fog of newborn life. As we wanted to establish routines for our family, especially at bedtime, we asked ourselves what we wanted that to look like. Then we looked to children books, to help set up these simple but powerful routines for our family.
WHY A ROUTINE AND NOT RULES
Where to begin with setting up routines? First I want to explain why we call them routines and not rules. It has to do with my teacher background. When I first began my student teaching many years ago, I was introduced to Harry Wong’s First Days of School. I was surprised to see he did not have very many rules in his classroom. Instead, he set up and used routines. Students would practice them until everyone knew them. Students did well in his class because they knew the routine and the expectations of how to complete that given routine. I really liked his strategies and used them in my own classroom. Even on the craziest of days with many interruptions e.g., fire drills or sick students, we were able to continue on until the end of the day, all thanks to routines!
HOW A ROUTINE CAN HELP AT HOME
There is plenty of research on how routines can foster a safe, loving, and helpful environment for kids. For us, a bedtime routine for our oldest is where we started. We did this, because at the time, our child was having trouble getting to sleep. He would fight going to sleep. We started by brainstorming some ideas. Then I found some amazing books that also had bedtime routines. It helped us to be able to read those books and have discussions about our routine. We experimented some with different components of our routine such as read a book first or brush our teeth first. After a little bit, we had a routine we all loved.
BOOKS WE LOVE THAT HAVE BEDTIME ROUTINES
Reading books about bedtime routines helped my husband and I to discuss what we wanted our routine to look like, and showed our son that other people had routines too! Some of our favorite books were these:
WRITE YOUR ROUTINE OUT OR GET A CHART
I know this sounds simple but it helps to write your routine out on a chart. A chart has helped stop many an argument. What does our chart say we do next? Sticking with the plan was a little challenging at the beginning, but then it became a habit. Everyone knows what to do, including the husband and I. The only problem we’ve experienced is when we deviate from the plan, for example by getting home late from a party at a friend’s house. Our boys like their nighttime routine. Here is our bedtime chart:
I laminated this evening routine chart. We can use dry erase marker to mark off the list as we go through the routine. If you would like something a little nicer and more professional looking, then you should check out Kids Chore Chart at Fun with Momma. I also like the idea of the Morning Routine Chart with the done segments from The Almost Perfectionist for more independent children.
MORNING ROUTINES
Once we had our evening routine down, then we moved onto looking at morning routines. We used the same procedure of brainstorming ideas, writing them down, and then fine tuning until we found the routine that worked for us. Here is a book we really loved to read and used to discuss morning routine, as well as our morning routine chart. With the morning and evening routines established, our home runs a lot smoother!
FINAL THOUGHTS ON ROUTINES
Routines have helped our kids a lot. They know what is expected and they know what is going to come next. For our nighttime routine, the process of going to bed stretches a little longer with our oldest. However, we have it timed well with dinner, such that everything just flows well in our routine. It gets him to bed with minimal argument.
I think for adults, we find it boring to do the same routine night after night, but that consistency is key with kids. The boys, the husband, and I all like our nighttime routine. It has led to a better chance of getting the boys to sleep in a timely fashion, and giving us the chance to take care of all the big things around the house.
Hope these children’s books are wonderful tools in helping your create routines your family love, from evening routines to morning routines, and any other routines in between. Are there any other children’s books with great routines you enjoy using? Please feel free to comment below.