Two Great Reasons to Use a Routine Chart
In honor of my new Etsy venture, I want to take a moment to share a couple of key reasons why I love routine charts so much and how they can benefit your family… through building connection and building confidence.
How, you might ask, can something as seemingly insignificant as a chart on the wall build connection between a parent and child and develop a child’s self-confidence?
Building Connection: Being nagged, lectured, and reminded is annoying. Being ignored is annoying. When we are constantly on top of our kids, they get annoyed and tune us out. When they tune us out, we get annoyed and lose it. This is a pattern visited time and time again by every family I know. So, I am always seeking ways to structure routines in a way that minimizes this toxic back and forth interaction. Enter routine charts. When your expectations for your kids are clearly pre-determined and displayed prominently, it takes the pressure off of you to be so involved. You can sit back, relax, and simply point to the routine chart and ask your kid, “what’s next?'“ while sipping your morning coffee.
Building Confidence: We all want to raise confident, self-assured kids. Unfortunately, we can’t provide our kids with confidence. We can’t praise them into feeling good about themselves. They have to develop self-esteem on their own. And what’s a great way to foster the building of confidence? Giving your kids the opportunity to recognize their competence. Kids need to experience their ability to be independent task-doers and problem solvers. When our kids complete the items on a routine chart without parent involvement, they feel good. And they build confidence.
Tips for Success:
Develop your routine chart together. Get your kids’ input on what should be included and in what order.
Keep it simple. Enough said :)
Utilize this tool wherever you are catching yourself being excessively involved and nagging or reminding. Morning routine; bedtime routine; what goes in the backpack, lunchbox, or sports bag; options for quiet activities, etc.
Make it fun. Bringing joy, silliness, and fun into everything you do with your kids is always recommended.
Sending structure, connection, and confidence your way,
Morgan