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Predictable Schedules and Routines

Schedules and routines are important for children and adults. We all like to know what our day will be like—when to do laundry, when to pick up a child at play practice, etc. Routines help us feel in control of our schedules. They also keep us from having to rethink everything every day, which can be very tiring. 

Think about a time when you were traveling and a friend or a tour guide was in charge of your day. Did you feel like you gave up control over your schedule? Were you anxious about when meals would occur or when you would be arriving at your hotel? As an adult, you have a concept of time, can ask questions, and can try to gain some understanding of what your day will entail. Even when someone else is organizing your day, you can exert some control over what happens to you. 

 Young children (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) do not have a clear understanding of time. They organize themselves by the people they are with and the events that occur. School-age children typically know how to tell time and can estimate how long an activity will last. They like to feel more in control of their own time, activity choices, and schedule.

A Responsive Schedule for Infants and Toddlers

Infants and toddlers should be viewed as capable and competent. Each child is unique in personality, needs, and responsiveness. If you are caring for infants and toddlers, you will need to be flexible. For example, some infants take shorter naps throughout the day and others may take one or two longer naps. As a caregiver, you will observe the infants and toddlers in your care and respond to their needs. As you communicate with the families of infants and toddlers in your care, you will learn more about their schedules and routines and about the families’ preferences. 

An infant or toddler’s schedule is guided and supported by a responsive primary caregiver based on what is learned through observations and connections with the family. The primary caregiver strives to understand the child’s needs and helps each individual transition from one experience to another. You can support autonomy by providing “wait time” for each infant or toddler so that they can process information and make connections (Wurm, 2005). When caring for infants and toddlers, adults should focus on the sequence of their care and how things happen rather than keeping to a strict time schedule. Daily schedules for infants and toddlers include: 

• Experiences: Caregivers should remain close by to offer support to infants and toddlers as they play and explore the environment at their own pace.
• Caregiving routines: Arrival, feeding or eating, diapering or toileting, sleeping, departure, etc.
• Transitions: Times of change that occur in a child’s day, such as snack or outdoor play.

Flexibility is key to caring for infants and toddlers. As a family child care provider, you will need to adapt and change as you learn about each child. Schedule changes, travel, and other events of daily life may affect a child’s day in your home. As a responsive caregiver, you will need to remain flexible and put the child’s needs first.

Schedule for a Family Child Care Setting

The authors of the Creative Curriculum for Family Child Care (2009), provide an example of a daily schedule for a family child care setting. This example is provided in the Learn section handout, Family Child Care Schedule.

It is important to display a word and picture schedule at the children’s level, so they know what activity time comes next in their day. It is also important to plan ahead and use information about the children’s interests in order to plan activities for your week. Provide parents with the weekly plan ahead of time. If you have a website, you may want to post it there and have a paper copy posted on a bulletin board in the arrival area of your home.

Children should know the schedule, what is expected of them, and what is coming up next. There are many methods of creating and maintaining schedules. Though routines are essential within your family child care setting, they should be flexible and remain open to the needs of the children.

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Consistent but Flexible

Caring for children is challenging, and the best-formed schedule, plans, and ideas may have to change at a moment’s notice. Keeping a consistent schedule is important for children’s growth and development. Routines not only help children feel secure and safe, they also help families know what their child is doing at your home during the day. However, it is important to maintain a balance between consistency and flexibility. Sometimes, children find it more fun to be outdoors, and you can certainly bring many indoor activities outdoors. When caring for infants and toddlers, there is the need to respond to their very individualized schedules. Taking time to talk to an infant during diaper changes and feedings is important and should not be hurried to meet a scheduled activity. You support children’s growth and development by listening and not rushing a child who is talking to you about a new discovery they have made during play. The adult-child relationship is at the heart of quality care and should come before all else.

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Summary

In this lesson, you learned about responsive caregiving and its importance to the growth and development of infants and toddlers. You examined a sample family child care schedule and learned about strategies for transitions across daily routines. Having weekly plans and a daily schedule will keep you organized and provide children with a stable, secure, caring environment. There will always be changes and unexpected events, so remaining flexible about your program’s schedule will go a long way toward comfortably handling the main day-to-day decisions you make as a family child care provider.