Routines With Kids Through The Holidays

The Holidays are such a wonderful time of year! However, if your home is anything like ours, keeping any kind of routine with our kids is such a challenge and things can get out of hand quickly.

The holidays are my favorite time of the year. We get to travel to see family, family comes to visit, we go to various events and gatherings and even just the extra outings to go see Christmas lights! It’s such a busy time of year because of all this. With all this, however, I have found it especially hard to keep routines with my kids and have seen it affect them as well. Let’s look at some ways we have worked to keep some semblance of routine for our kids!

This is a post about routines for kids during the holidays.

Routines with Kids During the Holidays

#1 Eating Habits

The first time I have found that has helped us keep routine, is our eating habits. By habits I mean, eating the same general foods we always do, as well as at the same times of day we typically do. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know the holidays are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to eating. However, we still do a lot of home cooked meals, whether that’s at home or at someone’s house. This helps us to keep the nutrition high and have things that are very similar to our regular meals or food choices.

We also try to keep our eating schedule around the same general times we usually eat. This helps to keep our kids on the same schedule as far as sleep and digestion. These may seem like things that we can overlook. However, they really make an impact, especially on the little ones.

#2 Bedtime

This one seems like a no brainer but can actually be quite challenging depending on how complex or strict your bedtimes are for your children. We opted for bedtime routines over strict sleep schedules for our children. This has given us the balance of having a predictable lifestyle for our kids while allowing for things like travel or family coming to visit and having a disruption in schedule. Routines are just, in general, more flexible that a schedule.

We have the same routine for our children no matter where we are. For us that is, a warning of going to bed soon. Then cleaning up or putting stuff away (even if its only a single item). Pajamas and brushing teeth is next. Then we pray together as a family. Finally tucking into bed with a lovey and turning on the sound machine. And of course, lights out. This is our routine no matter if we are at home or at a hotel or at a relatives house.

Keeping this routine in place no matter what, is even more critical when there are changes to the environment or other people around. It helps kids stay grounded and know what to expect. It also helps them unwind when at night when everything is predictable and just like at home.

#3 Behavior Expectations

This might seem a little strange. Let me explain.

When we are at home we have certain expectations of our child’s behavior. For example, using please and thank you. Or, not screaming (in a fun way) when we are inside the house. Staying seated when we are eating a meal. And the list goes on. Maintaining and reinforcing these expectations no matter what is going on in life, is HUGE for kids. It causes confusion and uncertainty if they are expected to sit at the table at home but at grandmas house they’re allowed to just run all over the place and eat anywhere and everywhere.

Now, we have encountered things like other parents allowing their kids to do certain things that we don’t allow our kids to do. This has been a little confusing for our 2 year old as she didn’t understand why she couldn’t do that, at first. Eventually, though she could see that those children were simply not behaving in a way that was acceptable and she doesn’t need to follow suit!

Maintaining expectations no matter where we are or who is visiting, has helped to keep behavior in line but also eliminates unknowns for our toddler. She knows what is expected no matter what and that actually helps keep her grounded as well! When everything around is changing, she still knows what mom and dad expect and that is so helpful for her.

Maintaining routines is hard for us as adults but so important. It is even more important for children though. I hope these tips can help you and your family as you navigate these wonderfully busy holiday seasons!

This has been a post about maintaining routines with kids through the holidays.