3yo Routines

[Abigail333]

I wonder if I could get a little insight into toddler routines for behaviour / development.

The reason I ask is my 3yo has joined nursery 2m ago. We were at a disadvantage before Covid with no family or friends near for little to play with and very few playgroups. Then during Covid, nothing was open and sadly little didn’t get much socialising.

Little goes to bed at 7pm and wakes at 530am - she has always been an early riser and at times can be up at 430am. We have searched through countless blogs, guides, videos etc and we can never get her to sleep longer than 530. She had also dropped her nap at 2 so we give her quiet time but I feel we have got her into a bad habit as she has a television in her room (not my idea 😑) and she will lie in bed and watch a cartoon for a little while.

We haven’t been the best with routines, we play and dance etc but we found she has a very small attention span and wants to do everything.

She is now in nursery afternoons and this is something they have brought up and how they need to work with her to help fix this but we have also noticed since she started, she gets very VERY tired just 2-3h into her 4h session.

Is there any tips or ideas to help develop a routine to a)help encourage her to focus on single activities for a while and b)find a way to expand her energy.
We were aware of the concentration issues but we never saw the tiredness until she began nursery and now we have a few issues to try and improve instead of just one 😅

Any advice at all would be lovely!

First thing I'd do is to work on her early rising, she could just be very overtired. Have a read of the No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers.

The TV won't be helping with her concentration. Could you swap this for cuddling on the sofa with a book or audio story?

Has the Nusery suggested anything to help with concentration?

A simple, age appropriate board game might help, the Orchard Games ones are usually good.

Baking with her might help as well, you can get her to help with measuring and stirring and she will have to understand that you follow a recipe abs the reward is at the end.

A good breakfast might help as well. I read that the Uni of Ulster had done a study that showed eating beans in toast for breakfast improves cognition.

Is she having a daily vitamin as well?

If things don't improve though abs the Nursery are still concerned, I'd ask for a referral to a Paediatrician, just to rule out things like ASD.

Sorry, I meant ADHD.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions, I will definitely be trying these out. Right out I am desperately scrambling for ideas and routines before she goes back to nursery on Tuesday after the bank holiday.

The nursery have not offered any suggestions, I did ask if they could let me know if anything I could do to help encourage her as well but we got no reply.

I 100% about the television, since I posted this thread, I have cut any TV time in half and she has a set time she can watch a cartoon but sadly the Tv idea was done while I was out to work and came back to find a tv in her room 😑

She does take a gummy vitamin everyday, preview she turned 3 she was given vitamin drops.

I am always worried about potential ADHD, she is active and can be all over the shop at times but when we sit and play, she is able to play for lengths of time so I do think it is our failing not setting a routine and she has been given Full reign to do what she wants.

The sleep sadly has always been a problem since birth, she can self settle and very rarely fights sleep at night but her bedtime is 7, but no matter when we put her down, 6, 9, 11pm, she always wakes up at 530.
I thought maybe something wakes her such as heating turning on but I have slept in her room a few times and she just wake a naturally - but I’ll give the thread a read and see if it can help with suggestions, she is definitely overtired!!

Thanks so much again, x

Apologies about spelling, fat finger day 🤦‍♀️

Definitely have a read of the book for suggestions on early rising. I'd be tempted to gradually move her bedtime to at least 7.30 as well to see if that helps.

Abs just because the tv is in her room, doesn't mean it has to stay there...