There are many reasons a young child may struggle with day to day routines. The most common reason is their attention span. Up to the age of 5 years old, a child usually has one minute of attention span per age, so a 2 year old has a two minute attention span, a 4 year old has a 4 minute attention span, and so on and so forth.
The second most common reason is that they are given too much responsibility too soon. While children can help with chores at all ages, the chores need to be age appropriate, so you might give a 2 year old a dust rag to wipe a table with but you wouldn't give them a vacuum cleaner of course.
Another common reason is that children don't get nearly enough sound sleep these days. Infants and toddlers need on average 12-14 hours of sleep a night. Some may be able to get away with as few as 10 hours, and others may need as many as 16 hours of sleep a night. 3-5 year old's need anywhere from 10-13 hours of sleep a night and some need as many as 14 hours of sleep a night, while others can survive on only 9 hours of sleep a night. Older children in the 6-13 range need a minimum of 9 hours a sleep a night, and the average child in that range needs 10-11 hours of sleep. Some get by on as few as 7 hours while others need as many as 12 hours. No child under the age of 13 should be sleeping less than 9 hours a night. If they are, it could be one of the reasons that you struggle with the day to day routine, especially if it's the morning routine.
Other common reasons for a child having a hard time with a day to day routine is the need for a nap, not drinking enough water, too long of a wait between meals or snacks that's causing low blood pressure, and distractions by siblings, video games, etc.
Posted on Mar 24, 2017
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