Daily Rhythms of Young Children during Current Home-Stay Period

The home-stay period for our young children is most likely to go on for some more time while some older classes and colleges may choose to re-open.

 

Balancing the act of taking care of young children along with one’s own house/office work for extended periods of time can sometimes be over whelming. And it is understandable. In such times we can remind ourselves of an important thing that will help us, our children and the whole family to smoothly sail through the day and have lesser meltdowns for ourselves and for our children.

 

It is the golden word- The Rhythm!

Children and even us adults tend to have smoother days when the day looks more predictable and rhythmical i.e. there are enough ‘breathing-in’ and ‘breathing-out’ moments in alteration.

 

1. Make it predictable:

 

You can begin by having set timings for breakfast, lunch and dinner for your children and for yourself.

This little change brings down a lot of inner anxiety in children especially. When they know what is coming next, there is less scope/space for outburst or negotiation. If they begin to observe day after day that ‘this is when we all come together to eat or sleep’ the child will just simply follow your actions. It will also put his body in sync with daily rhythm and at specific times during the day body will begin to feel hungry or sleepy. This stands true for bowel rhythms too.

 

Once the basic needs of the body- food, sleep and excretion, is taken care of for young children, a lot of things begin to fall in place for them. They play more peacefully and whatever work they are doing they are more open and willing to do it joyfully.

 

2. Make it Rhythmical!

Once this is achieved, remember to bring rhythm to your child’s day i.e. there are periods of ‘breathing-in (e.g. mealtimes, storytime, rhymes) & breathing- out’ (playtime, massage time, sleep). If the child has just eaten breakfast, he needs time to use that energy now. Make some space in a room for them to simply sit and do pretend play or jump or run within the allotted space.

 

After an hour or two ensure that they have some break. You can gently guide them to the bathroom for a loo break or together sit for a fruit break.

Remember to make yourself fully available in these short breaks to your child. Every two hours, these 15 min breaks can be fully devoted to them, where both can quietly and calmly sit and eat your snack or may be just have a little chat.

 

3. Ensure enough movement!

A young child’s work is to play. So we must remember to create appropriate spaces in our houses for young ones to play before we get busy with our house or office work. You can spend some time at the beginning of the day (after re-fueling your bellies of course!), where both the parents and the child can help set up the playroom and re arrange the furniture to make some space for playing.

 

- Let children be ‘house-helpers’. They can help you around in brooming , mopping , chopping vegetables or dusting and washing clothes. There is ample housework these days and we can think of many such spaces where we can encourage and invite children to help us. Young ones can start with a small portion of work while older children can independently be given housework to complete daily.

 

During challenging points in parenting or family life, many parents think about strengthening the family and child’s rhythm even more. It helps them tremendously to stay grounded and balanced. 

Wishing each family- more strength, resilience and warmth.

Suggested Reading- https://www.waldorftoday.com/2011/11/daily-rhythm-at-home-and-its-lifelong-relevance-by-helle-heckmann/

Picture credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354165958191401292/