The role of rituals and routines in young children

The introduction of rituals and routines at home before a child starts formal schooling can play a big role in helping a child adapt to the school environment. This is the advice offered in the second episode of the Learning Early Series, an online video series for parents who are about to embark on that next big step in parenting: being the parent of a school-going child!

Teachers at Early Learning Centres or primary schools use rituals and routines extensively as these induce calmness, relieve anxiety and offer structure to the day. Parents can learn a lot from teachers and the way they communicate and engage with children through routines. This episode explains some of these rituals.

The video can be viewed here:

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137 Comments

- - BellaB said
  - 03 Oct 2021
    4:57 pm
I think the way the pandemic has upset a lot of routines has underlined how important they actually were.

- - mom81879 said
  - 30 Sep 2015
    7:44 pm
Wow, we have rituals and routines, didn’t know how good they were. I simply follow them to make life easier for all of us

- - dannsbuild said
  - 22 Sep 2015
    10:27 pm
Great! Its very good knowledge to know! Thanks for sharing this article!

- - smiles said
  - 30 Apr 2015
    7:24 pm
I find one of my children responds so much better when there is routine. I think routine also helps children to become organised.

- - mom94125 said
  - 03 Jan 2015
    11:57 pm
oh routine is essential! i find that it becomes a lot more easier to get my child to co-operate when they know that after dinner, it is bath time and bed time. Kids thrive off of routine. i see the big difference if there is a change of routine for some reason and that’s when they can start being silly etc (not to say that they don’t have fun or anything lol). i think that routine just makes it easier for them to cope with the day because they can predict it. This helps a lot when they go to school and they behave a lot better because they are used to playing by the rules of a routine. sorry for the long comment.

- - caramello said
  - 31 Aug 2014
    2:33 pm
my son needs routines, otherwise it’s chaos. school holidays are out of routine for him.

- - Emilyypamela said
  - 30 Jun 2014
    10:12 pm
Routines are the best. My child will be in one.

- - eestigirl said
  - 29 Jun 2014
    5:29 am
The importance of routines is not some amazing new discovery surely! I think some education professionals got off track years ago and now believe we are all just empty vessels needing to be filled with their insights.

- - mom57522 said
  - 26 May 2014
    9:12 pm
My kids are much better behaved when we are in a routine.

- - Gracelow said
  - 12 May 2014
    8:31 pm
Love the video! Thank you for this article

- - Happymum-2 said
  - 11 May 2014
    6:44 pm
another good video, I think routine is very important for children

- - mariel said
  - 05 May 2014
    3:44 pm
thank you for sharing, good article

- - shazzbot said
  - 30 Apr 2014
    3:53 pm
Thank you for sharing this, it was an interesting read.

- - mariel said
  - 11 Apr 2014
    4:29 pm
thank you for sharing great article

- - mle00 said
  - 31 Mar 2014
    5:20 pm
If children are used to routine and rituals it remove a little stress from their lives, they know what is expected and they can focus on other things!

- - mummy liana said
  - 24 Mar 2014
    11:06 pm
thank you sharing this article good read

- - rainbownerds said
  - 10 Mar 2014
    2:24 pm
interesting read, thanks for sharing this

- - mummy liana said
  - 03 Mar 2014
    11:46 pm
thanks for sharing was a great read

- - kafer said
  - 26 Feb 2014
    2:43 pm
If we are there teachers in life then we need the tools to do the best we can to give them a routine.

- - solere04 said
  - 21 Feb 2014
    2:14 pm
its so true. So i wasn’t happy when the preschool decided to change it up in week 2! It was like starting again!