Does it take your child FOREVER to get ready in the morning?
Yes? READ ON!
Are you struggling to make it to school on time each morning? Does your child have difficulty completing their school morning routine, no matter how often you remind them of the time?
Here are a couple of tips you can try at home to make the school morning routine easier for you and your child.
- Use a visual schedule. Using visual prompts such as pictures representing a school morning routine helps make children aware of your expectations. This can help to reduce their stress, which can help to reduce yours! This is a particularly helpful strategy for children who don’t do well in high pressure situations. And we all know a school drop off can quickly become a high pressure situation! By creating a step-by-step timeline of events using pictures, you can allow your child to manage their school morning routine independently. Your child can tick off each part of the school morning routine once it’s completed, helping them feel accomplished. This can help set a positive tone for the remainder of the day!
2. Include a timer. When you set a timer for each task in the school morning routine, your child knows what time you expect them to finish. If they are able to complete each of their morning tasks in the designated timeframe, you might choose to use a sticker chart to keep track of their efforts. Sticker charts allow you to reward your child with something special, which motivates them to maintain this routine every morning! Letting them know you are proud of their efforts along the way is always a great motivator!
Pictured below is one of our favourite timers – the Time Timer. It displays a red disk that disappears as the time runs out, so even young children can see whether they have a long time or just a little bit of time left to get something done. Let us know if you’d like us to get one organised for your child!
