Get out clothes for tomorrow
Tomorrow feels abstract to many children. Laying out clothes the night before takes a sense of the future – which is exactly where the visual support below helps, by making tomorrow visible tonight.
♂Boy getting clothes for tomorrow
A boy is kneeling in front of an open wardrobe, holding up a t-shirt and socks. Next to him is a calendar icon with 'TOMORROW' and the number '1'.
About this visual support
Preparation is a grown-up word. For a child, tonight is concrete and tomorrow is a fuzzy picture – if it exists at all. Laying out clothes for a day that has not begun asks the brain to hold two points in time at once, and many children only manage that well into childhood.
The visual schedule gives tomorrow a body. The picture of joggers and a rain jacket becomes the evening version of next morning's weather. Once the clothes sit on the chair, the decision is already made – and the morning that usually starts with choices starts with movement instead.
One concrete tip: make it the last thing before brushing teeth, always in the same order. The preparation then rides along with something your child already does without thinking. You can drop the step in as the second-to-last item in an evening routine in the Routined app, so tomorrow's pile lands in the same place each night and the morning does not have to be reinvented.