Kiddipedia
Teaching your toddler structure through their daily activities could be most beneficial for both you and your child. The ability to see routine in daily activities in a most positive way is crucial to the management of your time wisely every day and keeping your child happy until they grow up.
Routines and structure in the everyday life of a toddler are very important in giving them a sense of certainty and security. Toddlers look forward to waking up and eating their breakfast with you. Playing with their favorite toys with you, or engaging in an interesting activity with the adults outdoors like in the park. Later during the day, they look forward to washing themselves with your supervision and you reading them their favorite bedtime story as night time comes. Then they also feel a sense of security as you, finally, tuck them in and give them a kiss good night for bedtime.
Routines and structure help in helping children understand time and time management. With structure you have your child’s whole day planned. Knowing what to do for each minute does help in preparing everything for each activity and go about them for the whole day. Having your day planned for routine activities will make your kids be familiar of what you both do each day and enjoy.
Routine and structure help children get used to having chores. Simple tasks like cleaning up after playtime could be very good ways of starting to teach your child do simple chores. Eventually, they would be able to apply these skills once they are older. Giving your child small chores to do also will give them a sense of responsibility, which is a skill that they need to cope up with as they grow up into older children and as adults.
Routine and structure can help establish habits that are beneficial for the child. This may include, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, washing their hands after play and towel dry after a bath. All of these are important aspects of self-care that a child needs to learn early on.
Routine and structure help strengthen relationships by focusing on time together. The more time you spend with your child, the stronger your relationship with them becomes. Spending time with your child has no substitute. It is the key toward strengthening bonds with your little one. Giving your valuable time to your child is very critical in developing a good relationship with your child. In this way you are able to observe your child personally and get to know their quirks, wants and wishes. You get to have a hands on experiences of their feeling about things and would know as a parent what needs are to be met and what they like or hate as children.
Some tips that we suggest for you to apply to your daily structured routine with your child include:
- Structured morning preparations. Prepare breakfast. After, help them take a bath, brush their teeth, towel dry and dress up.
- Structured meal times. Prepare meals. Put their milk on their table. Place their meals on their plates and eat together.
- Structured bed time routines. Let them wash before bedtime, then let them dress up with their pajamas. Read their favorite bedtime stories and kiss them good night.
- Structured child care routines. Wash them in the morning before they go out. Wash their hands after playing. Then wash them again before getting to bed. Take care of them when they are outdoors by supervising their playtime to make sure they do not get hurt.
- Structured play dates. Set playdate times regularly during the week. These could be daily playtime or scattered in some days during the week.
Putting structure into daily routines is easy and beneficial for your toddlers’ emotional and mental health. So, let your children enjoy their day with a breeze by having these in their daily lives.
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