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Some ideas to help you create a routine that works for your family.

• Get everyone in the family involved, including the children. A routine which works well requires everyone’s input.
• Talk about everything that you do daily in your family and make a list. Start with the times people wake, eat, bathe, do homework, complete house chores, sleep, etc.
• Organise the items on the list in order of when you do them each day. Then assign roles to tasks.
• Help everyone to understand the tasks and their roles in the daily routine. Be realistic and allow each member to take up what they can manage.
• Place the list of your daily routine in a place that everyone can see, for example, on the fridge, or commit it to memory if possible.
• Start practising the routine. Know that mistakes will be part of the learning.
• Remind children of the routine as you go about everyday tasks. Try saying, “We always brush our teeth before bed” or, “Reading first, then TV”.
• Allow time to get familiar and keep trying, even if you encounter difficulties.

Remember it is ok to be flexible and adapt routines for special occasions, for example, allowing your child to stay up a bit later to go to a family celebration. You know how much change in routine your child can cope with.

Other things to try:

• Build rituals and traditions into family life to nurture connections. This can be as simple as having breakfast together on Sundays.
• Do things together, the same way, again and again. It helps to establish routines and to form habits and behaviour.
• Introduce daily rituals like hugging your child goodbye before school and reading stories at bedtime. They can help make separations easier and provide security.