As you establish routines for September, you may want to consider how you can set up routines that limit the amount of sibling rivalry. Consider all of the things in your household that there might be a ‘first’ for. For example, only one child can shower first, brush their teeth first, be served snack first, be tucked in first, etc. We suggest making a schedule with your children so that they can expect when they will go first and when they won’t. It might look like this:

Monday         Tuesday       Wednesday        Thursday       Friday      Saturday         Sunday

Child 1             1st                    2nd                    1st                    2nd                   1st               2nd                1st

Child 2             2nd                   1st                     2nd                  1st                    2nd             1st                   2nd

Since there are an odd number of days in a week, you can have ‘A weeks’ and ‘B weeks’. Each week, a different child starts the week as 1st.

This small structure will decrease the amount of time you need to spend choosing who will go first, it will decrease sibling rivalry, and it will decrease time that your child spends complaining to you about not going first. Furthermore, it will give your child a sense of security because he/she will know what to expect each day.

Related posts:

1. Helping your child with ‘drop off’
2. 5 Best places to search for colors with your child
3. Coming up in September
4. Book of the week: Things that Go
5. Help your child explore the science of color