Evening routines

What should my evening routine consist of?

We know as parents that sometimes it is hard to get children into a consistent evening routine especially over the weekends therefore we suggest getting into a routine that suits you best.

Children love to be involved and given routines so that they know where they stand.  

Meal time

The evening meal is a busy time in the evening for most families.  Children all have different expectations and they are usually hungry when they come home from school.  Give them an option of a healthy snack when they come home.    Plan your meal times ahead and involve your children in the process, some children love to know what they are eating in the morning for the evening and it is a big part of their day.  

Preparing meals together and sitting together to eat is a good routine to have, getting children to set the table or help clear up gives everyone a purpose and encourages everyone to understand the importance of working together. 

Make sure you encourage good meal time behaviour  as this will help them at school when eating lunch.  

What should my child be doing in the evening?

Children need downtime and the evening is exactly that. They have had a busy day at school which usually involves lots of different activities from numeracy, literacy, PE, topic, and lots of other learning.

Use the time in the evening to let your child do the things they like, watching tv, playing outdoors, playing, arts and crafts, playing with friends and family, clubs and activities.

Most schools recommend that children read at least three times a week with a parent/sibling/carer. Incorporate this into either the journey home if you drive in the car or whilst you are making the dinner listen to your child read. Listening to your child read is as important as learning to read. 

Homework varies from each school - you know how best to manage the workload and spread it out over the week and weekend. 

Childrens school day all vary and some children are more tired than others. Some children especially when they are in the early years of school, really struggle to adapt not having a nap in the afternoon so there evening routine is very much relaxing and getting ready for bed.  Whilst others who are older might need a range of activities to get them ready for bed.  

Children all vary and as a parent you can develop good routines trail and error is key and keep things light hearted, if things dont go to plan one night it does not mean you can not set the scene the next day.