Organization of routines from early ages that favor autonomy, leadership and responsibility.
During the day it is essential to organize a series of recurrent activities that make up a routine, such as feeding, grooming, dressing, sleeping, playing, doing homework and work. The active participation of the child during these first experiences, will strengthen their autonomy and perception of success as they conquer small achievements that enrich the internalization of habits and information about their environment and the functionality of the elements that compose it.
The routine can be illustrated through personalized images that show the child carrying out the activity of the day, such as an image of the child taking a bath or eating his breakfast. It is important to organize them on a billboard in an chronological way from the first moment of the day to the last one. Here is an example:
¿How can a parent guide his son or daughter to reach its full potential?
Through the different moments of the day, the child can participate actively and solve problems, which increases their autonomy, initiative and leadership through guided questions that empower rather than inhibit. Some examples are described below.
| Hour | Experience | How to guide instead of facilite |
| 7:00 am | Get up from bed | Lift him up calmly and with enough time for your morning to rutine to flow without rush. Remind him what he is supposed to do with questions like: Now is it time to? After bathing what do we do? |
| 7:15 am | Have Breakfast | Allow him to eat alone as much as possible, it is okay to use his hands or cutlery if he already has this ability. Do not have distracting elements on the table like toys or technological devices. Present the food in an easy way to grab or eat with the elements of the table. |
| 7:45 am | Take a bath | Allow him to participate in preparing everything related to his bath: Look for the towel, turn on the water, get in the shower. Also, show him how to apply the soap and shampoo, before letting him manipulate it on his own. Ask him related questions like: What do we put on our heads? What do we do after we apply the soap on ourselves? ¿What do we use to dry ourselves? |
| 8:05 am | Go to school | Anticipate to the arrival at the school. Remind him where he is going, why is he going, who is he going to spend time with. Reinforce the fact that he will learn new things, meet with his friends and more importantly have fun.
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| 12:30 m | Arriving home | Upon arrival, remind him to wash his hands, change his clothes, and get ready for lunch. The child may take a nap before or after lunch as needed. Please note that your child must take all of the meal of the day by himself, without distractors like toys or television and without making promises or establishing conditions for him to eat his food. |
| 1:30 a 2:30 pm | Nap | It is important your child receives the right amount of sleep time |
| 3:00 pm | Snack time | Please take into consideration the same recommendations suggested before. |
| 3:30 pm | Set up a series of experiences with pedagogical content for your child | The experiences or games must have some type of pedagogical content and should be carried out in an organized manner and until completion. They must follow a chronological order, having a beginning, development and purpose and an ending. Give clear instructions, model them if necessary, and then allow the child to do them autonomously. After finishing the activity, the child is instructed to organize and store the items or toys that he used.Examples: reading stories, coloring, assemble puzzles, string objects in ropes or basins, and so on. |
| 5:00 pm | Going out and doing exercises like ball games, hula hula, tricycle, going up and down steps, crawling, climbing, swinging, amongst others. | It is important to have time to exercise with your child. This time is important for his physical health, as to spend quality time with him and to establish good life habits. |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner and quality time with family | You can assign tasks such as: Setting up the table, helping serve the food, cleaning up after him. Then spend some time with him, asking him about his day, showing him love and affection, and having fun. |
| 7:30 pm | Sleep routine (toilet habits, pajamas, prayer, story) | After dinner, allow your child to wash himself as independently as possible, allow him to make an attempt to put on his pajamas. Make sure to ask him questions that make reference to the processes he must carry out. It is important, that your child falls asleep lying in his bed, without rocking him to sleep. You can read stories or sing songs at night to help him fall asleep. Set a dim light and turn off television or electronic devices. |
In each of these experiences your child should be allowed to participate in an AUTONOMOUS manner. By doing this he will develop the skills to assume the challenges of his routine independently and start to develop his character. It is also essential to assign responsibilities in his daily activities such as watering a plant, organizing the closet or pantry, picking up shoes and storing them, feeding the pet, participating in the preparation of meals, and so on.
Do you think that as a parent you give importance to your child’s daily routine?How do you think you can enrich your child’s routine so that it can enhance its development?Do you allow your child to assume autonomously the different challenges of the day?
