Maintaining a regular schedule with your child

 

Maintaining a regular daily schedule is important to everyone’s health especially a child’s health and well-being. It helps the child maintain a happy state of mind with increased cooperation and less anxiety because they have predictability and structure in their day.

• Be sure to wake up and go to bed at relatively the same time every day. Children should be in bed 1-2 hours after dinner.
• According to the sleepfoundation.org, children 6-13 need between 9 and 11 hours of sleep with younger children needing as much as 12-14 hours
• Prior to bed time try some quiet, wind down activities like a bath/shower, books, coloring, Legos, or playdough.
• Eliminate screen time immediately prior to bedtime.
• Children under the age of 4 will still need a nap; be sure to schedule this at the same time every day.
• Make sure children get lots of physical exercise throughout the day
• Limit recreational screen time so your child seeks out more physical, social and/or creative play.
• Schedule meals/snacks
• Continue regular scheduled visits with any health professionals (OT, PT, Speech, Counseling, Psychology, etc.) to continue to work on goals that will support their growth and development.
• Getting in a habit of missing these will make it harder for some children to want to return while others may miss that connection they developed with their provider
• Learning should not stop during the summer
• Use a daily visual schedule to help everyone stay on the routine

For more information, visit http://www.abcpediatrictherapy.com