“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” Gretchen Rubin
- How much importance do you place on your daily routines with young children?
- Does the routine add or deter from the learning opportunities you deliver?
- What value do you place on those intimate one-on-one moments?
- Do you recognise the importance of routines and the impact they have on children’s emotional development?
Routine is a familiar, well-used word when talking about young children. Why? Routines are based on structure and consistency – often challenging to define and form - but once developed, they offer a rhythm, flow, and smooth transitions throughout the day.
Enhancing children’s emotional development through care routines
Parents and educators actively encourage and support children to develop self-regulation skills, like dealing with emotions and controlling their impulses. As children experience situations that increase their ability to persevere and accept contentment, they build self-regulation.
What benefits do we reap when we follow a routine?
- Consistent routines give our children a strong sense of security and stability, which offers them the feeling of control over their environment. When the day flows smoothly, and there is an element of predictability in what’s coming, children feel safe, secure, and confident in an adult's care.
- We all know children’s attention and behaviour can become unbalanced when they are hungry or tired. Having a planned routine where meal and sleep times are at regular intervals helps children emotionally prepare for the next task and know what is expected.
- Each care routine activity is an opportunity for children to learn how their world works and the part they play within it. Discovering and mastering essential life skills like personal hygiene, self-care, managing expectations, and taking responsibility for themselves develops independence and confidence.
- By managing these personal and intimate routines sensitively and respectfully, we establish close personal relationships with children developing their confidence and self-esteem.
When routines become heartfelt rituals
Incorporating aromas into care routines can help to offer memorable experiences. Research tells us that the sense of smell affects about 75% of our daily emotions and holds an important role in memory more so than any of our other senses. We may be able to think of fragrances that evoke particular memories, the scent of a home baking wafting through a grandparents' house during a childhood visit. Memory and smell are intertwined; it’s through memory that we learn to remember smells. It is powerful and fast because it is the only sense that goes directly to the emotional part of the brain without intervention along the way.
Angela Foley
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