Routines and habits

[Anonymous]

My kids are 5 and 3 and I'm realizing that life is easier when we have routines and habits around certain things. I know this probably seems obvious to other parents, but better late than never I guess

Here's a recent example: In the past, my kids would come in the house after playing they'd just throw stuff down and run in and start playing with other toys.

It occurred to me that at preschool, if they allowed that, there would be total chaos. Instead, they have the kids do a series of steps, and they set expectations, and the kids all sit quietly (mostly) on their cubbies. Amazing!

So after what feels like months, my kids now come in the house, take off their shoes, put them away, and wash their hands. Small victory.

It took a lot of work, and I had to really focus on consistency and every single time physically moving them back to the entryway to do shoes, physically moving them to the bathroom to do hands etc.

I'm posting this here in case it helps someone else, since it's really helped me.

And also, if you have other areas where you have helped your kids built habits that have made life easier, maybe you could share them.