Routine Machine: Getting Your Kids on a Routine

Posted on 04 25, 2009 under The Manual by foodad | Comments

What should your kid, Mike Hargrove and Nomar Garciaparra have in common? Nomah and Grover are both known for their religious home-plate routines. In fact, Mike Hargrove was called “The Human Rain Delay” for his painstakingly long performance. After each pitch, he would put the bat between his legs, fix his gloves, pick up the bat, knock the dirt off his spikes, straighten his cup, make sure his helmet was in place, take a few practice swings and then he”d be ready for a pitch.

It”s no wonder he has such a high lifetime .OBP. It was nearly impossible for pitchers to concentrate for his 10 minute at-bats.They often walked him. Of course we”ve all seem Nomah fix the gloves, kick his feet and take his check swings.

Your kid craves this kind of discipline. They don”t know what to do with themselves, which is why they count on you and your wife, girlfriend or life partner to provide a routine. Can you believe that many noodads do not enjoy a relaxing evening at home because their one to three year olds stay up until 9 or 10PM? Noodads, when are you going to have time to decompress if your kid is up until 10PM? When are you going to have time to bump and grind if your little one is watching Elmo on-demand at 9:37PM?

Routines are not always easy to follow, but they lay the groundwork for your kid”s discipline. When you kids asks “why?”, you can just say “Because it”s part of the routine.” They provide structure in the day that will prepare your kid for structured activities like playgroup, tee-ball, soccer and pre-school. They should be based on activities that are not deviated from, but can also have components that are swapped in and out.

There are obvious times to provide a routine, like FCH.
But what about getting in the car?
[M] Put their shoes on.
[M] Put their coat on.
[M] Put them in their car seat.
[M] Do the bottom clips
[M] Do the top clip
[O] Then they can have a toy, sippy cup or book.

M=Mandatory
O=Optional

Pre-dinner (do one of these while someone makes dinner)
[O] Watch a little TV like Sesame Street or Dora
[O] Read some books
[O] Play some toys

I know that o.c. designer is thinking “How the hell is that routine foodad? It”s only one thing!” Well noodad o.c., it happens every day so your kid gets into the habit of doing it, therefore it”s routine.Everything is routine! That means that means that routine can also be evil.

Anti-Routine
When your kid starts putting together the routine that”s when things go awry. If you allow them to stay up until 10 because they whine or you become a short order cook because they refuse to eat. If you allow them to skip their bath or not brush their teeth because they don”t like it, you can easily end up with an anti-routine.

Implementing a routine
You just do it and you don”t take no for an answer. You let them know that you”re the boss and you repeat it in spite of resistance. I always tell them, let”s take care of business first during the routine. Then I tell them, we always [steps of the routine]. They know and when they attempt to deviate (which doesn”t happen often) we just refer to the routine. If your kid resists the routine, this is the time to get stern. You”re the parent. Exert a little parental force if you need to. Now, when we change the routine my daughter tells ME what we missed. She likes the routine. Not that she doesn”t enjoy a routine diversion, but the routine is what guides her through the day.

Good luck with implementing routines Noodads!

Related Posts

Viewing 5 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    Its good to see this timed routine running in real life. You don\'t need to watch more than three Super Nanny eps before you realise that the household can be nice place to live in (esp. for mom), once routine is well established.

    We aren\'t up to this stage yet. But the one question I have for practicing noodads, is - seeing as you come from the computer industry, how do you manage an ongoing routine when noodad can be a randomly l8dad or even an ondemandovertimedad?

    This isn\'t an industry known for its forgiving operating hours. I guess I also ask as the sole bread-winner for the family.
    • ^
    • v
    Lil P
    I hate to say it, but my wife is the primary enforcer of the routine. I try to make myself as aware of it as possible and participate when I\'m available to do so. You also need to make sure that you don\'t do anything to take the kids out of the routine. I\'m sure it can be done when both parents work as well, it\'s just that you need to tweak the routine to suit your schedule.
    • ^
    • v
    Hear, hear! Routine is the sanity saver!

    Probably the toughest thing to acclimate to was the amount of time it takes to make things happen on schedule. That is, if bedtime is 8:30 P.M., then you've gotta be in the bathtub really close to 7:30, so there's time between there for a little dab of Blue's Clues or reading a few books. We typically get home from work close to 6 P.M., prep & have dinner. See where this is going? You end up with around 45 minutes of playtime if you're lucky. And that's where the trouble is. As Summer draws nearer, my wife is really resisting 8:30 P.M. bedtime for our just-turned 3 year old. Goes something like this, "Y'know, since it's still light out, maybe we could play outside just a few more minutes..."

    I love my little guy. I enjoy the extended Summer evenings and the outdoors playtime. But not just no, but heck no. As it is, 8:30 P.M. bedtime affords us maybe an hour and a half or so of "us" time. And often that has to include domestic tasks like laundry-folding (which we usually do while watching shows off of the DVR) or bill-paying. And our son is not all that independent yet - he's pretty clingy and attention-demanding, so that brief time we have after he's in bed is all the more vital for, as you aptly put it, decompressing.

    We veer a bit off-schedule on weekends if we're away from the house and naptime has to slide (or be skipped altogether), so adherence to bedtime routine becomes all the more important.

    Plus, I'm a staunch advocate that children of all ages need more sleep and downtime than we often afford them. Mornings begin awfully early in our home (usually 6 A.M.) so 8:30 P.M. bedtime isn't such a stretch.
    • ^
    • v
    A very good game I'm constantly monitor
    • ^
    • v
    The Routine Machine is a trademarked name of an actual product used to teach sports related pre-shot routines. Please be careful....Thanks..Jeff Jackson PGA, Inventor
 

Trackbacks

(Trackback URL)

close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus