Pyjamas at bedtime
Changing into pyjamas means the day is over, and that realisation arrives long before the toothbrush does. The visual schedule below shifts attention from that dividing line to what is waiting on the other side of it.
♀In pyjamas in bed
A girl in spotted pyjamas sits in bed with her eyes closed while the bedside lamp glows.
About this visual support
Getting changed is the real border of the evening. As long as the day clothes stay on, play could in theory carry on, and the second the pyjamas go on, the day is closed. Plenty of children feel that border very clearly and dig in right there, while adults read it as defiance aimed at a pair of trousers.
Visual support moves the weight from the border to what follows it. When the sequence shows pyjamas, toothbrush, story and lights out, changing becomes a step in the middle of something rather than the end of everything. For children who find transitions hard, knowing what comes next often does more than another reminder.
Give the border a warning in picture form. Point at the pyjama card a while before it is due and say it is next, so the child can settle into the decision instead of being met by it. Put something calm and looked forward to straight after, ideally the story. In the Routined app the whole evening can sit as one picture sequence.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
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In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
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