Many toddlers (and their parents) benefit from having routines that they follow on a daily basis. Routines do not have to be rigid or make you feel trapped. For toddlers, routines provide a sense of order which helps them to feel secure because they know what they can usually expect to be happening and when. As your toddler grows, routines can even help him or her to learn things like how to tell time and days of the week. For adults, routines are a great time management tool which can help them to get the things they need to do done while providing spaces throughout the day to fill with the things that they want to do.
You can make your daily routines as simple as you want to. In fact, the simpler they are the better as is the case with just about anything involving toddlers. Using routines successfully is less about the specific things that you decide to do and when you decide to do them, it is more about establishing a rough outline of the things that you do each day and including space to fill with whatever you want or need to do beyond the basics.
A sample daily routine for a stay at home parent with a toddler and a new baby might resemble a typical day at my house. We generally wake up around seven thirty or eight and the first thing that we do is make and eat breakfast. Dylan wakes up very hungry (as do I) and neither of us function or behave well if we do not eat as soon as we are hungry. After breakfast, we wash the dishes and then play or go out to do errands depending upon the day. Lunch is around noon or so, and after lunch Dylan sometimes takes a nap. We play and do chores until almost six in the evening. A little before six, we clean up the toys and go to the kitchen to make dinner. Dinner is normally around seven, and after that we do calming, quiet things like reading books or watching a movie until about eight when Dylan goes to bed.
Of course you may be wondering where little Blake is during all of this. He’s right there with us, usually snuggled in a baby sling. He eats when he’s hungry, naps when he’s tired, and watches and listens to Mommy and Big Brother as they go about their day. By the time he is doing the things that we do, he will already be familiar with what a typical day is like.
Photo by grafixar on morguefile.com.