Routine chart

What It Means

A routine chart is a list of the steps in one daily routine, in the order they happen, placed where a child can see it. For younger children each step usually has a picture; older children may use words. The child marks each step as it's done, so the chart does the reminding instead of a parent repeating the next instruction.

How It Sounds at Home

• "Go check your chart, what's next?"
• "You did every step on your chart tonight."
• "Teeth is a picture of a toothbrush, see?"

The Breakdown

How to make one

1. Pick one routine that causes trouble, such as mornings or bedtime.
2. Write its steps in order. Four or five is a good start.
3. Add a picture to each step for a child who doesn't read yet. The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations publishes picture routine cards for home routines, and photos of your own child work too.
4. Hang it at your child's eye level where the routine happens, such as the bathroom door for bedtime.
5. Walk through it together for the first few days, pointing to each step.
6. Let your child mark each step done: a tick, a magnetMagnet schoolA public school with a special theme or teaching approach, such as science or the arts, built to draw students from across a district and from different backgrounds. See more moved across, or the picture turned over.

Try it today. Draw four boxes on a sheet of paper, one for each bedtime step, and let your child color them in before you tape it up.

What makes a chart work

Good to Know

HealthyChildren.org, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, says children do best with routines that are regular and predictable, and also warns that a routine so rigid it becomes boring works against you, so let the chart change as your child grows. The Pyramid Model's guidance on picture schedules suggests making them with your child and pointing to them through the day. If a routine stays a daily battle despite a chart, talk with your pediatrician.

Related Terms and Categories

• Visual schedule

  A row of pictures or photos showing, in order, what happens next in a child's day or routine, so they can see what's coming.

• Kids morning routine

  The same short list of steps a child follows each school or child care morning, such as dressing, breakfast, brushing teeth and grabbing a backpack.

• Bedtime routine

  The same short series of calm steps a child goes through each night before sleep, such as brushing teeth, reading a book and lights out at a set time.

• First-then board

  A two-part picture board showing a child the task to do now (first) and the activity that follows (then), often something they enjoy.

• Family routines

  The regular, predictable ways a household handles the repeating parts of the day, such as mornings, meals, homework, chores and bedtime.

Family organization and routines