Routine family life can sometimes become an overwhelming experience depending on the number of children and their ages, as well as their extracurricular activities and the schedules of each one, with or without domestic support at home.
In the Kínders del Real blog we give you some tips to establish an effective and well-managed family routine, with which you can optimize your time and resources and thus benefit you and your whole family.
What is a family routine?
The family routine is the order of activities related to some time of the day that is repeated consecutively throughout the week within the family nucleus.
For these routines, several external factors influence:
- Buy supermarket and stationery items.
- Make payments from academies.
- Attend sports matches
- Delegate responsibilities, etcetera.
Without a doubt, a good preliminary planning will save you a lot of haste and headaches.
There are several moments in which you can establish clear and concise routines, that are automated with time, so that they serve as relief and reduce your sources of daily stress.
Although they require "administrative work" behind the scenes, a good tip to carry out is to make tables for each routine, talk with the family and paste them somewhere visible for everyone, like the refrigerator, the table of entry to the house or a cork somewhere in common use.
In the tables you can put columns such as: "Time (eg 9-9: 15 a.m.), What to do ?, Who will do it?".
TIP: The more specific, the better. It is your family table, so give yourself the freedom to adapt it to everyone's needs, which you know perfectly. For example, for the little ones, the illustrations or drawings are very useful! Remember that order and clear and organized schemes generate inner peace at any age.
The morning routine
It consists of clearly establishing the activities that each person will perform during the morning when they get up, in what order and with what approximate duration. Among these activities you can consider some of the following ideas:
- To make the bed.
- Dress and groom.
- Prepare the lunch.
- Brushing teeth.
- List belongings (eg backpack, lunch, work or materials).
- To leave with enough time to arrive at time to the work of each one.
TIP: You can include motivational elements such as "listening to classical music while we fix ourselves", "picking them up with tickle on Fridays" or a similar funny idea.
The mid-afternoon routine
Among the activities that you will program within this routine, take into account the following, adjusted to your needs:
- Remove the uniform and order everything in its place (dirty clothes, shoes in the shoe rack, hanging sweaters and / or jackets).
- Time of the meal at the table (preferably without distractions such as cell phones, tablets or television).
- Clean up the kitchen. (wash dishes, keep leftovers in tuppers, etc.)
- Brushing teeth.
- Prepare things that are needed for classes in the afternoon (swimming suitcase, sports uniform, etc.).
- Do homework
- Ready backpack for the next day (establish a place to leave it ready).
- Leave the activities in the afternoon with time.
TIP: Between the routine of mid-afternoon and night (according to your schedules and activities per day), we suggest you include items such as: a little free time, reading or a little while for TV.
Try not to always relate to television, computer or video games and, if so, never let it happen after 7 pm, since the brain stimulation it generates is a lot and can reduce your sleep and rest habits, which triggers another type of consequences.
The night routine
This is usually the most chaotic moment of the day, taking into account that many times the fatigue that has been generated already influences, so we recommend you take into account the schedules you designate for each activity. You can include:
- Bath.
- Brushing teeth.
- Ready the uniform or dress for the next day. We suggest you designate a place to be always ready.
- Read a story or book, according to age.
- Put on your pajamas.
- Going to bed.
- Include a specific time for "talk before bed", where you spend some time to accompany your children while they manage to disengage from the daily routine and are predisposed to sleep. This, in addition, will generate an irreplaceable bond of affection and trust.
TIP: At an early age, if your intention is to let them put it together by themselves, it will be useful to make a list of the clothes they must sign, be it with letters, illustrations or photos. This will motivate them and avoid conflicts.
Finally, we have nothing left but to tell you something that we try not to forget: "Nothing congruent is said, heard or remembered during a fight". That is to say, that the less you plan the routine moments with your family, the more you will encourage trouble and stress, which triggers misunderstandings, arguments and bad times.
Take the time to manage these moments, which are experienced daily, and you will notice a huge difference in a matter of days, both in communication, habit formation and affectivity. It will take time to automate it, but it is worth starting to work on it now.
We also want to invite you to know an educational project that walks day by day thanks to committed professionals and education specialists like you, who will accompany you on the arduous path of being parents.