What Are the Benefits of Routines for Children?

Routine activities generate important habits in children and help strengthen their character.

By establishing routines for children, they learn valuable principles that may last a lifetime, such as discipline and responsibility.

Developing good habits is crucial for building character in children. Although routines can be seen as limiting, the truth is they’re necessary for little ones. Routines teach children a number of valuable lessons. We’ll explain some of the valuable lessons that can be learned below.

Routines are created with the aim of teaching children appropriate behavior and good habits. This is an effective way to teach behavioral lessons because routines are difficult to modify once established. For example, children can learn to always brush their hair before going out, or to brush their teeth after every meal.

Good habits don’t always arise naturally, many have to be learned. They can also give our children healthy guidelines to follow from a very young age.

When to start establishing routines for children?

You shouldn’t wait too long to start developing routines for children. This can be done almost from the moment they’re born. It isn’t unusual for children to start learning their first routines before they turn one year old.

If we let too much time go by, children may acquire bad habits that are difficult to change. 

Establishing a feeding schedule, and a set bathtime and bedtime from a young age will help children adapt to new routines as they grow older and as more activities are added to their days.

To a large extent, this will facilitate their adjustment to new routines when at first they go to preschool, then later school, and also start participating in extracurricular activities. 

From a young age, children copy what they see, whether that is good or bad. This is because at first, they don’t have the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. This is the reason why it’s best to teach them habits and routines by setting an example with your own daily activities.

The importance of habits and routines for children

Establishing schedules and respecting routines brings a large number of benefits for children, including the following:

• Teaches them how to be neat and organized
• Favors the development of autonomy  
• Generates security and stability
• Creates a calm environment
• Lowers levels of uncertainty and anxiety because the activities are predictable

The first thing we should establish with our children are the hours when we eat, bathe, and sleep. It’s advisable that you stick to these times and respect the family schedule on a daily basis.

As they grow, it will be necessary to add new activities to the schedule like time for studying and playing, without interfering with the routine that has already been established.

Habits, routines and their relationship to learning

In and of themselves, habits are a form of learning that establishes self-regulation behaviors and discipline. For instance, they help children adapt to the school system. In the classroom, especially in preschool, teaching children to follow routines is one of the main learning objectives.

In the same way, the creation of routines and set schedules favors the understanding of time sequences and space, in addition to helping children focus their attention on specific tasks.

They also help children learn to plan and work to reach certain goals and objectives on a daily basis. This helps children learn to start and finish an activity efficiently, rather than procrastinating or leaving tasks half-done.

Benefits of routines for children

Having a pre-established routine will help the youngest family members learn how to act. This should have the support of the entire family who each do their part to lead by example.

At the same time, adopting good daily habits as part of a routine can help children learn to:

• Anticipate what is to come and manage anxiety.
• Adapt easily to different situations.
• Become organized by learning at a pace that will serve them well as adults.
• Appreciate that there are norms and limits you have to respect.

  

Remember that establishing effective routines for children requires that you patiently lead by example. It requires a team effort on the part of the whole family. Otherwise, children may start to pick up bad habits.

Your children have an infinite number of capabilities and talents to explore and develop. The more good habits they adopt, the better their chances of success in whatever they want to accomplish in the future.