Maintain consistent routines for bedtimes and mealtimes, where possible. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children. Fiese BH, Tomcho TJ, Douglas M, Josephs K, Poltrock S, Baker T. (2002). A review of 50 years of research on naturally occurring family routines and rituals: cause for celebration? J. Fam. Psychol. 16:381–90 (Level III)
Studies have shown that giving children opportunities to practice expected behaviours through daily routines help create and maintain appropriate child behaviours as it provides them with consistency and security in predictability and helps with planning abilities.
Consistent routines are associated with less impulsivity, aggression, and oppositionality among children. Koblinsky, S. A., Kuvalanka, K. A., & Randolph, S. M. (2006). Social skills and behaviour problems of urban, African American preschoolers: Role of parenting practices, family conflict, and maternal depression. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76, 554. (Level IV) Lanza, H., & Drabick, D. (2011). Family routine moderates the relation between child impulsivity and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(1), 83–94. (Level IV)