Turns out routines aren’t just for babies and toddlers. We’ve learned big kids thrive on structure too. When BeBe moved from preschool to elementary school, I had a laid-back approach to how she spent her time after school. But by the second semester that resulted in an over-tired kid and bedtime battles. We established a routine for after school the second half of kindergarten, and it made a big difference. This is the routine we stick to on nights when BeBe doesn’t have activities.

I’m home when BeBe gets off the bus, and the first thing we do is let her eat a snack as quickly as possible. Her school has a short lunch time, and she would rather play with friends than eat all of her lunch, so she’s famished by 4:00.  Once she eats a snack or two, the afternoon goes smoothly. The next step is to go through her folder from school. If we forget to do this, inevitably at bedtime we find the flyer for spirit day tomorrow, and her school t-shirt needs to be washed. Then it’s time to relax and play, outside if the weather is nice. Then it’s inside to take a shower, and by that time she is ready to tackle homework while my husband cooks dinner.

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Now that she is older we also switched up the bedtime routine. As a preschooler the nighttime routine was bath, read two picture books, and then bed. As an older kid, BeBe is learning to read and enjoys chapter books. Depending on how tired she is we read two or three chapters of a book together. Sometimes, I let her stay up later if she wants to read a chapter to me, after I have read to her. It’s an incentive to help her practice reading, and if I know BeBe’s not tired, I might as well let her enjoy more of the story.

Making these changes has really helped our evenings run smoothly. Generally, we have BeBe in one activity each session (Sessions last about 6-8 weeks). For now, that seems to be enough. I’m sure our evenings will become more complicated when she wants to do more activities and when her brother is old enough to have extracurricular activities too.

Do you have an after school routine for your elementary aged kid? Please share.