A ROUTINE LIFE CAN BE A GOOD LIFE

"Most of life is routine - dull and grubby - but routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. If you wait for inspiration you'll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street." by Ben Nicholas

Men of routine or men who can do what they are told are not hard to find; but men who can think and plan and tell the routine men what to do are very rare. William Graham Sumner

" For pragmatic reasons, I love routine. I love the structure of it. I love knowing that my days are free. I know where I'm going at night. I know my life is kind of orderly. I just like that better. by Andrea Martin

"The only routine with me is no routine at all." Jackie Kennedy


I was blown away by a Seattle kindergarten class in which I subbed on Friday. The kids were well behaved, orderly, and skilled, making for an easy teaching day and a lot of learning. What made the difference? It boiled down to children knowing and following classroom routines. No need to exit the room by table names, or remind the students to do "lip-hip" as they walked down the hall. Gone was any time-wasting chaos as they lined up to get small white boards, erasers and erasable markers. Forget the need to use the point system to control behavior. They were obviously well versed in what they had to do and how to do it, and it paid off. They beamed when I announced that it was the best day I had ever had as a substitute teacher in Seattle.

I got to thinking about routines in life and found quotations both for and against the advantages of living a life filled with them. Actually, most people being quoted saw a life of routine as boring and stifling creativity. A few relished the productivity they experienced when living an ordered life.

I had an opportunity to discuss the subject with a number of family members over the holiday week-end and came up with some interesting thoughts. Basically it came down to what one was doing that determined the value of routines. Here are some of their thoughts:

1. SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are sacred when engaged in reproduceable work such as that which might take place in a lab testing for AIDs or determining someone's DNA. Surely no one would question the need for accuracy. In other words, if you send a blood or other specimen to two different labs you want to know that the routines, criteria and outcome will be the same.

2. On the other hand, research work (while undoubtedly having some built in routines) is the place for "out of the box" thinking and experimenting to come up with either different outcomes or different ways to get to the same outcome.

3. Routines are a way to impose a semblance of order in a chaotic world. Children can certainly add chaos to a family or classroom, the outcome of which is frustration, anger and a lack of productivity. Parents can minimize these reactions by implementing simple routines. At home, from an early age, learning routines for daily living, household responsibilities, interacting and cultural activities reduce stress and provide comfort. Read the following article for some practical ideas for parents. http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/family_routines_how_and_why_they_work.html

4. In the classroom I mentioned above, the teacher obviously had spent a long time at the beginning of the year teaching classroom procedures. The following web site gives specifics about classroom routines and practice. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4150

5. The use of two little songs at the end offered the biggest surprise. The students were enjoying choice time - a favorite time of day for many. I pressed a key on the document camera-computer, and a "clean up song" began to spill forth. Immediately the kids stopped what they were doing, began to clean up, singing the song as they went, put up their chairs, got their backpacks and were sitting on the rug before two short songs ended. Parents could use songs to get children involved. The results are amazing! http://www.songsforteaching.com/everyday/everydayroutines.htm

6. . Routines allow us to have some control over our own lives. In the aforementioned kindergarten class the kids, knowing how, what and when to do things got a good start in understanding the important of structure. When we adults live in chaos, where important routines are absent, we spent a lot of time allowing life to control us rather than vice-versa.

7. Classroom planning and routines are important to figure what and how to teach. On the other hand, a classroom which is bound by routines and a time schedule, often has no room for "teachable moments". An opportunity is lost forever if a teacher does not take advantage of learning something first hand about a classroom visitor's career or culture.

8. Routines just plain make us feel better and ensure that our world feels right. Before you "pooh pooh" the value of routines in life, ask yourself what you do in the morning, from making coffee, reading the newspaper, or turning on your favorite TV program, to what you eat for breakfast. Think about your day and how you do things like paying bill, fixing dinner or cleaning house. Ask yourself how you get ready for bed, and which side of the bed you like to sleep on. These are all routines providing a sense of order and comfort.

9. Though SOPs are cast in stone in some work environments, can we be flexible enough to modify them to maximize one's working and personal life? I know someone who has developed a filing system that is fast and efficient. Her supervisor does not want her to use it because it is not "the way we do things." This lack of flexibility is not good management and causes hard feelings and misunderstanding.

To have routines in your day does not mean you have a routine, ho hum life. On the contrary, I think it frees you up to pack more into your day and to live a fuller life. Lucky indeed is the kindergartener or other student whose teacher realizes this. That teacher provides structure and routine into every day while also seizing the many teachable moments that arise. Even luckier is the child whose parents see the value of family structure as a way of building good personal habits and a work ethic. So I say to you, carpe diem, but also enjoy the fruits of your daily routines. That way you'll have the best the world has to offer.