Summer evening

#summer#evening#outdoors#relax

Long light evenings make it hard for the body to understand it is soon time to wind down, when the sun is still shining. A picture gives a clear signal the light does not. See how the support works below.

A child sits on the grass at sunset among flowers and a moon.

♀

Summer evening

A child sits on the grass at sunset among flowers and a moon.

About this visual support

Summer evenings are lovely, but they do something to the sense of time. When the sun is still high and it is light outside far into the evening, the body gets no natural signals that the day is nearing its end. For a child that can be confusing: how can it be bedtime when it looks like midday?

Visual support gives the signal the light does not. When the evening routine exists as pictures, it becomes clear that it is time to wind down, whatever the sky says. The pictures take over the role that darkness otherwise fills, and help the child understand that the evening is here even when the sun lingers. That makes the transition to night less of a negotiation.

A tip: darken the room with curtains and keep the evening routine the same even on light evenings, so the body gets help to understand it is night despite the light. Outer signals support the inner clock. In the Routined app you can keep the same evening routine all year round, so the pictures signal sleep no matter how light it is outside.