The key to a smooth sailing day-to-day family life is to establish a good routine at home. And if you feel like you already lost track, it’s not too late to reboot, especially for the coming new year.

Try our following tips to help you get started.

4 Easy Ways To Establish Family Routines

1. Include Every Family Member

Decluttering and organizing the home is stressful but once it is done by many hands, the burden lessens.

Getting every family member involved is a great way to instil responsibility in younger kids, foster bonding in older kids, and share the load with adults. It’s not always fun. It’s not always educational. However establishing household routines with the entire household provides a great life lesson.

You can find age-appropriate chore and task suggestions here.

2. Re-evaluate Current Routines

If a year has passed already it’s possible that your family schedule might be obsolete. New things happen, your kids are a year older and your schedule may not be the same.  Before thinking of new routines, ask yourself:

• What changes occurred during the year? (You moved house, your children changed school, somebody left the house, youngest child started school, you got a full-time job)
• What chores have been neglected in the process?
• Which household chores need more attention?
• Will the new routine make it easier for daily living?
• Who amongst the family is good for a specific task?

The answers to these questions will help you formulate your routine into something predictable and regular.

3. Design New Routines

Designing new routines to incorporate the discoveries you made in step 2 can be fun. In this phase, do the following:

• Re-evaluate each family member’s task and add or subtract tasks to it.
• Plan out your goals.
• Give individual steps for each task. Work it out until kids can be independent with the routines assigned to them.
• Set a realistic timeframe for each task.
• Minimize distractions while completing the task.

Making rules clear prior to the routine in a non-demanding way will help kids settle in with the new rules.

The more that they feel they are involved with the rule-making, the higher the possibility that they’ll respect the rules.

You might want to also set consequences if routines and rules are not carried out.

4. Make a Schedule Easily Accessible For Reference

Print out the routine and the schedule on paper or a noticeboard where everyone can see it.

It should include the day or time, the task and persons involved.

It can include everybody’s task for the whole week. You can even include incentives throughout the process like putting a smiley if the day’s routine is followed and done.

Please share what family routines have worked best in your home.