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#05-239 Tampines Vista
Singapore (520866)
Daily
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09:00 to 18:00
Do you find it hard to wake your child up in the morning, yet they cannot fall asleep in the evening? Does your child “boycott” their daily nap and dinner schedule? Many parents have encountered these problems. These issues do not stem from “bad upbringing” or disobedience, but rather from the lack of proper daily regimen. Sooner or later all parents need to organize their child’s life and establish a daily routine. Let’s see how proper sleep and work schedule helps our children grow, how we can help them accustom to it and how we can establish this schedule.
Contents:
A proper child’s daily regimen is a reasonable duration and rotation of various types of activities and leisure. [1] A well-structured schedule can bring the time for study, sleep, rest and food, as well as hygiene, in order.
Adults tend to make light of their own life schedule. Our modern life rhythm has its own rules: eat on the go, have the amount of sleep you can manage and spend leisure time passively. Naturally, a child starts to follow the rules they experience in their family. They have no choice but to follow their parents’ schedule, set as an example in front of their eyes.
A proper daily regimen for a child is not a strict “penitentiary” regimen, and it is not coercive in any way. It is simply an efficient tool to fulfill all children’s needs.
So, why is a daily regimen so important?
The role of a daily regimen is not simply developing time management skills. It is also a solid base for a harmonious development of a child’s body and mind.
If a child sleeps properly, they grow active and curious, ready for “great endeavors”. Daily walks reinforce child’s immune system and expand their horizons. By playing with peers, a child studies the world and learns to communicate. Balanced meals with a proper diet support child’s health and well-being. Any developmental activities in the daily regimen give boost to child’s cultural and intellectual growth.
Children’s nerve system is very flexible. It can quickly adapt to any external conditions. Nevertheless, a proper regimen is a foothold for a child to grow confident in themselves and their future. If a child knows what will happen tomorrow, or even after they finish their homework, they fell more relaxed and comfortable.
Discipline, responsibility and self-management are important skills that are useful even in adulthood. Proper daily routine is a foundation for their development. A child learns to control their life and take responsibility for their actions.
The daily routine is precisely the tool to teach the child all the important family values like playing or having a walk or dinner together. All the rituals in the daily regimen bring children and their parents closer.
With a properly established regimen a child has no trouble adjusting to new environment and forming useful habits. Children who have followed a proper daily routine find it easier to adapt to school schedule.
According to a US pediatrician Marc Weissbluth, many children can start following a regimen as early as 3-4 months old. [2] At this age, a baby stops sleeping most of the day, starts playing and eats at regular intervals.
A regimen for a baby would include sleep schedule, eating schedule and walk schedule. At the age of one year, when a child can eat together with parents, you can start establishing a proper eating regimen: breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, as well as healthy snacks during the day. By the age of 2 or 3 years a child can have developmental games and activities included in the schedule.
If you teach your child to follow a schedule early enough, by the age of 7 or 8 they will take responsibility for following their schedule themselves. Parents will not have to convince their child to sleep, finish their dinner and their homework, and the child will have no trouble waking up on their own. Ideally a child should be responsible for organizing their time for eating, sleeping and playing themselves. Parents are meant to supervise the compliance with the regimen.
However, if you didn’t manage to establish a regimen in time, you can offer your child to take a course of 7Spsy behavior modification technique. It is important to explain them that after this course they will have less trouble following a schedule, which means more time for playing and other favorite activities.
A proper sleep schedule is very important for a child’s growth and development. Children are very active and absorb a lot of information every day. During sleep, their bodies and nerve systems relax, allowing the children re-experience any positive and negative emotions from the previous day (disappointment, fear, excitement), thus avoiding emotional overload.
Pediatrician E. O. Komarovsky proposes the following standards for average sleep requirement for children: [3]
Each child has their own individual need for sleep. Many factors influence the duration and quality of their sleep: general health condition, activity, business during the day, quality of food, emotional background in the family and child’s surroundings. Children’s routine must be designed in a way that a child can have a deep sleep and wake up calm and rested.
Various factors can cause the child to have trouble sleeping: [4]
In most cases sleeping difficulties are not the signs of serious disorders, so they can be eliminated by introducing a proper schedule. It is normal for children, especially small ones, to whine and cry before going to bed, refuse to sleep with their parents and wake up during the night.
However, if your child has trouble sleeping even with a proper daily regimen, you should consult a specialist.
Accustoming a child to a sleep schedule The quality of child’s sleep improves under following conditions:
Wakefullness schedule directly affects child’s sleep and their ability to acquire new information and useful habits.
As your child grows, they will have longer waking hours: [3]
Parents should find a proper middle ground when designing their child’s daily schedule. If a child has little activity during waking hours, they will have trouble falling asleep. However, hyperactivity will not lead to quality sleep either. Children’s waking hours should be productive, but not overloaded.
It is important to create a favorable environment to help a child explore the world around them and have quality time for their activities. Here are some rules:
Proper eating is one of the important factors of child’s development at any age. Their food must feature all the necessary nutrients and vitamins. That will prepare their body to grow and carry the school load.
If a person eats at certain times every day, they develop a particular reflex. By the time of eating their stomach starts producing digestive juices, which leads to stronger appetite.
You can follow your own principles of balanced diet when making food for a child. It is important to note that a child’s eating routine will depend on their school schedule and other extracurricular activities.
Basic rules of a healthy diet for pre-school and schoolchildren:
Any deviations in the process of eating can cause unwanted physical and mental consequences. Physical ones include dietary deficiency (lack of macronutrients and mineral nutrients), which can lead to other disorders: insufficient body mass, anemia, digestion disorders. Obesity is another serious problem with uncontrolled eating. Psychological consequences include eating disorders (picky eating, refusal to try new dishes, complete refusal to eat certain foods) which can lead to reduced cognitive abilities due to lack if nutrients necessary for proper development of nerve system. [1]
If you notice any deviation from proper eating behavior in time, it can help with medical assessment of the child’s health. A pediatrician can draw proper conclusions about dietary deficiency.
В ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) features a large list of diseases linked to eating disorders (F50):
Once they go to school, children get a whole new lot of responsibilities: study, extra classes, housework to help their parents. All these require knowledge, responsibility and discipline, as well as sufficient amount of time. A daily regimen can help them maintain a proper level of working efficiency during the whole academic year.
A proper schedule should include the following: [6]
School schedule becomes the basis of a child’s daily regimen. In elementary, a child spends around 4-5 hours at school per day. Their school schedule is designed by school administration and their homeroom teacher. At home the duty to supervise the adherence to the regimen falls on the parents.
Here is an example of a schedule to give you a reference: [6]
| Activity | Time |
| Waking up | 7:00 |
| Morning exercises, personal hygiene, breakfast | 7.00 − 8.00 |
| School activities | 8.30 – 13.00 |
| Coming home | 13.30 |
| Dinner | 13.30 – 14.00 |
| Resting after dinner | 14.00 — 15.00 |
| Walking, outdoor activities | 15.00 − 16.00 |
| Homework | 16.00 – 18.00 |
| Free time | 18.00 – 19.00 |
| Supper, free time | 19.00 – 20.00 |
| Evening routine, going to sleep | 20.00 – 21.00 |
Some parents can be quite biased about the need for a daily regimen for their children. They have an opinion that children should be forced to perform certain activities, which in fact makes children weak and passive.
The truth is, a proper regimen does not come from the desire to destroy a child’s creativity, but rather from the intent to bring their life in order. With a responsible approach, a schedule can become the basis for a child’s harmonious development.
So, how can we accustom a child to a schedule? Psychologist advise to follow the following principles while designing a regimen for young children: [8]
A properly designed schedule, with precise adherence to it, ensures that a child remains active for the duration of their waking hours. They also fall asleep relatively quickly and easily, have a good sleep and wake up rested. They have proper appetite.
How can we accustom a child to the regimen smoothly? Parents should be consistent and follow certain rules:
Sleep, food and hygiene are the most essential needs of a child. Daily regimen should be designed around them. Walks, playing and developmental activities should be planned based on a child’s sleep-wake schedule.
If the parents decide to introduce a strict regimen after their child turned 5-6 years old, they should be patient about this procedure. A child of that age will probably rebel against a schedule. It is important to introduce the changes smoothly, without pressurizing a child.
This rule of smooth introduction works for any situation, be it potty training or entering the school.
While designing a daily routine, you should consider the child’s health, their physical and psychological traits, their interests. Each child has their own needs. One may eat all the food from their plate and ask for more, while another might struggle with even a half of their portion. Individual approach is important. For example, if a child is not hungry, you don’t have to forcefully feed them. When you are troubled with making your child go to bed, you should consider that they are probably not tired.
Parents should always observe their child’s natural routine, when they fall asleep, how long they are awake, when they feel hungry.
Any regimen will eventually exhaust itself and require corrections. A child grows and develops. It is natural to assume that a regimen for a baby will be different from a one for a toddler, let alone a schoolchild. Parents should constantly change the regimen according to their child’s needs and habits. As the time goes, a daily schedule will start to feature new activities, like studies, classes, clubs.
Even the slightest deviation from the routine can lead to sleep and eating disorders. Once the rules are set, they must be followed.
However, a child is not a robot. Everything should be in moderation: do not treat a regimen as an indefeasible law. There can be situations when you have to change the schedule. It is perfectly normal. You don’t have to panic if a child took a lot of time to get ready for a walk or got hungry half an hour later than usual. Also, if a child gets sick, their regimen will also require adjustments.
A proper regimen plays a great role in establishing child’s behavior and useful habits. Behavior psychology is aimed on changing behavior patterns.
Our new 7Spsy behavior modification technique is a registered, scientifically approved method that shows great results. The course lasts 2-6 weeks. Once you change a negative mindset to a more positive one, you will be able to use it to design a regimen that will be comfortable for you and your children alike. For example, it will help you find out how you can accustom your child to falling asleep without crying and tantrums. It is extremely important for developing personal discipline, responsibility and establishing useful habits.
The course can be taken from home at convenient times. You won’t have to tell about it to friends and teachers at school, as your child will follow the course independently and remotely. A psychologist will help you understand the instructions and support you by replying to questions in online chat, by email or by phone.
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