How I manage transitions in our daily routine with an 8, 5 and 2 year old.

Do you struggle to get your children off of a device after they have had a significant amount of screen time? How about trying to get your children to part with a dear friend? Or leave the playground? Or even leave the house?

I used to really struggle with handling transitions when my children were not accepting that it was time to move onto something else in our day or leave a preferred place. We still have our moments, of course, but I’ve found a few things have helped me to move through these transitions with a better attitude and with less meltdowns.

My strategy for transitions in our homeschool rhythm:

1. Have a plan for helping them get into the next part of the day.
   • Sometimes my children will gladly move past screen time and get into playing again on their own and most of the time they will not. For this reason I always try to have an activity or story prepared and a snack, of course.
   • Some activities I have for the ready: board games, card games, a new book from the library, art supplies that they don’t normally have access to, math workbooks or other activity books.
   • Fun snacks or lighting candles to give it a different feel has helped too!
   • When it comes to leaving the house, I will usually let my younger kids grab a toy to take with them.
   • If leaving a friend or fun place is hard I will always let them know we will plan another play date or plan to come back to the fun place again and then follow through on that with my child at another time.
2. Be ready to be 100% present
   • I know my children may need a lot of attention after having screen time so I try to make sure I am fully able to listen to their needs and connect with them to help them through the transition.
   • If my child is not happy about going to a sibling’s activity and waiting I’ll make sure to have a card game, drawing utensils or toy on hand to play and connect while we’re waiting.
3. Empathize
   • They will have their feelings about having to turn off the show, leave their friend, or end their fun game at home to leave for a sibling’s activity. Allow time to make space for the feelings (if possible) and just be ready to empathize with how they are feeling. It will help them to move through the feelings and it’s a way to connect with that child in their hard moment which builds trust in your relationship.

Another major tip is to give a warning! I cannot emphasize this enough and if you are homeschooling you likely already do this. I always always give a warning that we need to transition to the next thing in 5 or 10 minutes. If they are watching a show or movie I’ll let them finish it or say we have to stop in 10 mins but I’ll be sure to pause it so you can get right back to it next time.

Transitions can be a really good way to connect with our children and help them understand cooperation within the family. Our ability to remain centered and empathetic to each individual’s needs can make the transitions go more smoothly. What transition tips have worked for you?