Kieran (father of 3): Come on boys, wake up. Lyndon, come on, get up son. Come on, get up and have some breakfast. Come on Lyndon.

Kieran: Look if my kids don’t have breakfast they get very ratty, they get very irritable if they don’t have breakfast.

Kieran: So, it’s always good to make sure that they get their breakfast on time. Normally it’s just Weetbix or toast. Bananas, quite often they’ll have bananas for breakfast with their cereal. Are you going to grab yours? Off you go to the table, thanks.

Boy 1: Can I have some milk?

Kieran: I’ll fill yours up to here.

Boy 1: Yeah maybe just a little bit more.

Kieran: I think Weetbix just basically it’s economical. The kids love it, no sugar or honey or anything like that, they just eat Weetbix and milk. Come on, sit at the table. Are you alright?

Boy 2: Yes.

Kieran: Routines keep it the same. We don’t wake up the best every day [laughs], my wife and I, so if the kids know what they have to do it makes our life a lot easier.

We’ve just got basically a daily routine for everyone, got their before school routine on the fridge and we just keep reminding them and keep pointing them back to the routine. Over here just a quick one that Mum’s put up is for the kids when they come home from school. The schoolboys are old enough to read, so they basically can read it and they can keep pointing them back or Mum can keep pointing them back to the afternoon routine. It’s not Mum and Dad driving it, but you point back to the routine or the piece of paper and then you can’t argue with what’s written.

Come on boys, clean your teeth, wash your face; come on Noah.

So, even right down to brushing their teeth, there is a whole routine that’s involved in that as well.

Okay, where’s your toothbrush? Whose is the red one? Who has the red toothbrush? Where’s yours? Where’s your toothbrush? Is that your toothbrush?

There’s a sequence of events that goes on when we clean their teeth. That’s it.

Boy 2: Ow!

Kieran: Oh sorry.

You know, for a certain period of time, you know that they have to brush all of their teeth in a certain way. It’s good like even with Noah, for the older boy to be involved in the whole routine and to actually drive the routine, it works really well. And even to help out with the younger kids, because we find if the older one is in a good routine the other ones will follow well.

No, it’s hot; eh it’s hot, hang on a sec. Right you go straight in. Right Noah, have you done your hair? Oh are you alright.

Routine helps us tremendously as parents, it just lessens our stress because we can always point back to the routine and the kids will follow the routine, which is good.

Go and wash your hair off, wash the soap out of your hair please. Noah get out please. Noah off to your room.

When they’re going through, you know, their routines, it just helps them learn and develop and grow.

Bring your shoes and Willem’s shoes please.

Consistency is the biggest help with routine, just the same thing over and over again. It tends to get a bit mundane, but at the end of the day, the kids have their sense of they know what’s coming next and they’ll follow through on that after a while.

Noah, Willem, come on guys put your gear in your lunch, put your lunchbox in your bag.

But, for the kids it’s also they know exactly what’s coming up and what they’ve got to do, so it brings them a lot of security, that it’s not Mum and Dad who’s pushing them, that they actually know that there’s a sequence of events that has to happen, which works quite well. Come on let’s go. Let’s get off to school. Definitely first thing in the morning before school, that’s probably one of the key times that you need to keep routines.

Onscreen text: Evening routine

Jake: Hi Mum.

Annie: Hello Jake, how are you?

Annie (mother of 1): Routine is important for children because it helps them feel safe. How was your day at school?

Jake: Good.

Annie: Routine is definitely good for me as a parent, because it I’m able to organise things a lot better.

Get your bag off. Here you are, let’s go and wash your hands before you have some afternoon tea. I can have a full day at work…

[to Jake] Some soap, give them a good scrub

…and come home and things can get done and we can still have our time together and get the important things done. And it’s good for them to learn how to behave in school; it helps them get along with their peers.

[to Jake] So, what did you do at school today?

Jake: Mathematics.

Annie: And it’s all about development as well.

Jake: Maths.

Annie: And what did you do in maths, did you learn something new?

In my household we have a very strict routine during the week. We can sit down and do some timetables. It’s very scheduled; we know what we’re doing and when we’re doing it.

Jake: Can I go out to play?

Annie: Okay, I’ll call you when it’s dinner time, okay. Have fun.

Routine is helpful for me, because I know when it’s going to happen, how and I can plan my day around it.

[to Jake] Very good.

Sometimes if I’m ten minutes late for something he knows when to do things and he’ll get it ready. You’ve got to have routine guiding with children because it helps them become better adults and they’re better able to adjust to different situations.

Annie: Well, we’re doing our brushing our teeth, reading a book, into bed… It’s very important because it helps him have a good night’s sleep and he feels a lot better.

[to Jake] Jake, let’s start packing up and getting ready to have a shower. Come on bring your pyjamas, let’s go. So, did you get to play with Josh this afternoon?

Jake: No.

Annie: Okay, so we’re getting changed now, get your shirt off.