Think about your day with your children. When are you most likely to have trigger points and conflict? For most parents I talk to, particularly parents of young children moving from one activity to the next is the time when things are most likely to go wrong.

These are the transitions I’m talking about. There’s loads of them throughout the day, moving from breakfast to getting dressed, brushing teeth, getting out the door, getting home from school. That’s just a few examples.

What happens when it is time to move from one activity to the next? Child resists, or delays, parent gets frustrated, child resists more, parent gets more frustrated, potentially makes some empty threat, child gets angry. Sound familiar??

That’s why routine is so beneficial. It makes the transitions more predictable. Predictability is related to security. Children whose worlds are predictable and secure are less likely to become dysregulated and anxious.

A few things to bear in mind though. Don’t be so rigid that you stick with a routine that isn’t meeting your child’s needs. Children change and adapt and routines have to change and adapt with them.

Think about which time of day your child struggles most. Just like us, some children are morning kids and some are night owls. If your child is calmer in the evening then they will cope better with more tasks (bath time, reading, homework etc), and therefore more transitions, in the evening. The reverse is true of the morning kids.

If you want some help to reflect on your routines and get things running more smoothly at home give me a call or send me a message to find out more about how I help families work through their trigger points to move toward a more harmonious family life.