Important
Important is an adult word. For the child it explains nothing about why now or what happens if they look away. The marker below gives the word a picture you can actually point to.
Important!
A yellow exclamation mark inside a yellow starburst symbol with red arrows around indicating attention.
Mark as important
A yellow star inside a blue circle with red arrows pointing upwards and downwards.
About this visual support
The word important is more abstract than adults usually notice. When somebody says this is important, the child has to fill in important to whom, important compared with what, and important now or later. Without those answers the word just sounds like pressure.
An Important symbol does not work alone, it works as a flag next to other content. Place the marker on the step of a sequence the child tends to skip, or on the item that gets forgotten on the way out. The picture lets attention land on the right square without raising your voice, and the child sees with their own eyes what is meant, instead of only hearing it.
A concrete use tip: always pair the Important marker with another picture that shows the actual action, never as a marker on its own. Important plus toothbrush says something, Important alone says nothing. In the Routined app you can stick the Important flag onto any step in a routine and try the whole thing for fourteen days at no cost before deciding.