Blog — guest blog

As the parent of a toddler, you know how challenging these years can feel - simply getting through a full day can be tough at times, am I right? Toddlers are notoriously known for their strong-willed personalities, big emotional swings, and testing of boundaries. They can also be SO sweet and so fun to be around, as they truly come into their own in these early years. As usual in parenting, multiple conflicting emotions can be felt at once! 

Physiologically-speaking, a toddler’s brain, particularly the areas that control executive functioning (things like planning, decision-making, impulse control, and focus) are still under major development in the early years. This means that toddlers will struggle with all of these types of skills - and that’s normal! However, it also means that they can show up with big feelings, long tantrums, and overall difficulty getting through parts of their day, which can in turn, make our job as parents/caregivers, feel very difficult. 

One of the BEST things you can provide as a parent or caregiver for a toddler is a consistent daily routine. Why? Because predictability helps your child’s brain feel safe and secure, therefore leading to easier transitions, a better mood, and an overall happier child…. And who wouldn’t want that?! 

Let’s take a look at what an example of a daily routine for a toddler (2-4 years old) may look like for a day at HOME: 

• Wake up 
• Eat breakfast 
• Get dressed, brush teeth, use potty 
• Independent play time 
• Morning outing or activity (park, errands, play group, craft, etc) 
• Eat lunch 
• Nap or quiet time 
• Afternoon snack 
• Afternoon activity (structured play, outdoor time, errands, etc) 
• Independent play and/or screen time 
• Eat dinner 
• Play time 
• Start bedtime routine (bath, potty, brush teeth, pajamas, etc) 
• Goodnight! 

Next, let’s look at an example of what a daily routine may look like for a toddler who attends DAYCARE/SCHOOL: 

• Wake up 
• Eat breakfast 
• Get dressed, brush teeth, use potty 
• Go to daycare/school 
• Come home from daycare/school 
• Afternoon snack (Optional, depending on what time your child arrives home) 
• Structured play, if time allots 
• Independent play and/or screen time 
• Eat dinner 
• Play time 
• Start bedtime routine (bath, potty, brush teeth, pajamas, etc) 
• Goodnight! 

The most important thing to note for both routines is that the exact time that each activity takes place is less important than the overall flow of the day. Every family is going to be on a different “schedule”, but we can always create a daily rhythm for the day. And remember -  some days your routine will be off, and that’s okay! 

If your toddler is having trouble transitioning between parts of their day (for example, from independent play to the potty, or from screen time to dinner time), a visual timer can work wonders in the toddler years. This lets your child “see” how much time is left before they are expected to go from one thing to the next. You can let them help you set it, then give them advance warning about what exactly is going to happen when the timer goes off. For example, you can say “When the timer beeps, we are going to say good-bye to our trucks and go into the bathroom”. 

My favorite visual timer to use with children is the Time Timer - the MOD and the PLUS 20-Minute are two favorites to use at home. Use code ‘ROOTED23’ for 10% off your order! Code valid through 5/19/23. 

Looking for more guidance on how to structure your toddler’s daily routine? Struggling with specific parts of the day like bedtime, picky eating during meals, or tantrums? Check out my COMPREHENSIVE DAILY ROUTINE GUIDES. These multi-page digital download guides will teach you exactly how to structure your child’s routine and troubleshoot common toddler issues with simple and realistic tips and strategies that work! Grab the 2-3 Year Guide or the 3-5 Year Guide to match your child’s age. 

About our Guest Author

Jessica Rapp Irwin, OTR/L, is a pediatric occupational therapist, childhood routine expert, and lover of all things child development. She is the founder of Rooted in Routine, an online parenting education community and platform,, to help parents learn simple, easy to implement routines for optimal child development for babies and young kids. She is passionate about educating parents on NORMAL, HEALTHY development, which is often simpler than we think. Jessica’s approach is largely rooted in going back to the basics to help you establish solid, age-appropriate routines for your child for things like eating, play, and sleep. She believes this is the most important foundation you can provide for your child - and she wants to help you do just that! 

Learn more about Jessica here and follow her on Instagram to connect. 

For students with disabilities, consistency is key. Using the same tools and strategies at school, home, and in the community can be incredibly beneficial, as it provides a sense of familiarity and predictability that can help students feel more comfortable and confident in their abilities throughout multiple environments. 

One of the best ways we can provide consistency between school, home, and the community is to use the same tools in all environments for a seamless transition.  For example, if a student is using a visual timer to help manage their time and stay on task at school, it can be incredibly helpful for them to continue using this same exact timer at home. This way, the student is already familiar with how the timer works and can easily integrate it into their daily routine. 

Before we jump into how to use a visual timer throughout a variety of environments, let’s talk overall about why using a visual timer can be so helpful! By providing a visual representation of time, timers can help students better manage their time, stay on task, and even help with transitions between activities. Incorporating visual timers into daily routines can provide structure and support for students with disabilities, helping children to succeed in both academic and independent living skills, all while reinforcing time management. 

Ideas for Using Visual Timers at School 

• Visual timers can help students understand how much time they have to complete an independent assignment during class time. 

• They can be used during transition times, such as between classes or activities, to help students understand how much time they have to get ready for the next task. 
• Visual timers can be especially helpful during recess when children need to understand how much time they have to play before returning to class. 
• Teachers can use visual timers for various activities, such as classroom cleanup time or group work. 

Ideas for Using Visual Timers at Home: 

• Visual timers can help children (and adults!) manage their time and stay on track with daily routines at home. 
• They can be used to help children understand how much time they have to complete their homework or chores. 
• Visual timers can also be used to help children understand how much time they have left before bedtime or before they need to leave for school. 
• Incorporating visual timers into home routines can provide structure and help students feel more in control of their time.

Ideas for Using Visual Timers in the Community: 

• At the playground: A visual timer can be used to help children understand how much time they have left to play before it's time to go home.  
• At the library: A visual timer can be used to help children understand how much time they have to read or complete an activity at the library. (Silent, visual timers are great in quiet environments!) 
• At the grocery store: A visual timer can be used to help children understand how much time they have to shop or wait in line at the checkout. This can help reduce anxiety and improve overall outcomes in situations that can often be overwhelming. 
• At the doctor's office: A visual timer can be used to help children understand how much time they have to wait before seeing the doctor. This can help reduce anxiety and improve the overall experience of doctor visits. 

More Tips for Using Visual Timers at School, Home, and in the Community: 

• Be consistent with your use of visual timers in multiple rooms around the house and settings within the school. 
• Display the visual timer in a visible location so that a child can easily see it. 
• Encourage children to use the visual timer independently, once they become comfortable with it. 

And, when you find that a visual timer is effective at school, at home, and in the community, please discuss with your IEP team to have the visual timer written into the accommodations section of the IEP.  This will ensure the visual timers are listed as a required support for your child’s or student’s day. 

About our Guest Author

Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed. - Founder of Master IEP Coach® Certificate and Mentorship programs, host of the Special Education Inner Circle Podcast. Helping parents, teachers, admins, and therapists become the Idea Bringers, Solution Finders, and Team Builders at the IEP table by providing IEP Leadership & Strategy trainings nationwide.  

www.catherinewhitcher.com

www.masteriepcoach.com  

There are many things about ADHD that contribute to being a wonderful nurse. For example, individuals with ADHD are likely to have high levels of empathy, they are spontaneous, high levels of courage, the ability to hyper-focus on a task, and amazing attention to detail. Unfortunately, there are also struggles that come with being a nurse with ADHD such as lack of general focus, inattention, and poor time management. As a nurse one of my biggest struggles has been time management. When I was hired into the ICU as a new nurse I was required to work for three months on a medical surgical floor first. I laugh when I recall crying in the storage closet every day feeling completely overwhelmed with feelings of inefficiency trying to manage all the tasks. All eight of my patients needed things at the same time that they felt were most important ranging from pain medicine, medication for high blood pressure, a walk, a bed bath, a turn, fresh water, ordering lunch, and countless others.  

Fast forward nine months and I began a job in a nationally ranked Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. This position was vastly different than the 10 bed Medical ICU in the small town I had been working in. The struggle with time management only became more intense. Whereas in the medical ICU it was required to assess the patient every four hours, input and output every two hours, and medication management, the Neurological/Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit had a much more regimented set of monitoring which included hourly neurological assessments, the amount of fluid they received as well as the amount the patients put out (through surgical drains, urine, etc) every hour, drawing labs at a certain time, changing the rate of continuous infusions to keep patients alive, charting, updating and educating families, changing surgical dressings, monitoring the pressure inside the head hourly, and many more important tasks.  

All the tasks on my “to do” list felt like trying to paint a multidimensional piece of art with the same color grey. Having timed tasks that coincided with urgent tasks starts from the moment I clock in. Trying to organize the mountain of tasks heightened my anxiety and I found I would lose track of time as I was focused on a particular task at hand.  

Once the tasks were (somehow) complete as a nurse I must take time to chart the information for doctors to see on the computer so they can recall it at any point. Charting has always been my bane of nursing because there is always something else I could be doing that (to me) felt more important.  

All nurses have what they call “a brain” which is a sheet of paper that they take notes about the patient that they deem important. I developed a report sheet that worked perfectly for my ADHD mind. Not only did it have defined boxes for each body system, but it has a table at the bottom to put tasks, when those tasks are due as well as the important numbers that needed to be documented throughout the shift (Input/output, intracranial pressure, increase rate of tube feeds, and other similar notations). Once I began using the sheet I created I gained the ability to see the tasks in a more organized way of priority. Not to mention the way it was written on this sheet gave me the ability to use recall that “something” was due at a certain time.  

There have been other things I have learned through the years to help with my time as a nurse. I have learned to set alarms if something needs to be reassessed like pain and blood sugar. Not only do I use alarms as reminders to do a task, but I’ve also found it helpful to set them to remind me to move on from a task. We have the ability to become hyperfocused and get lost in doing something without realizing the amount of time that has passed, so setting an alarm to notify us five minutes before we need to move on to something new is very useful for ADHD Nurse brains. I’ve also started using the Time Timer Watch for things such as IV push medication that I have to administer over a certain period of time like tPA and Lasix. It is easy to second guess exactly what second you began your 60 second countdown, or the exact minute for the four minute IV push. I love having the ability to set the exact time and visually see the time changing. There are many things to overcome as a nurse with ADHD, especially considering our natural struggles with time. Thinking outside the box and utilizing methods and devices that work for us can be empowering as we start to become nothing short of incredible in our field. 

About the Author:

Jami Fregeau is a Registered Nurse who creates educational and supportive content for neurodivergent individuals through her podcast, The Neurodivergent Nurse and lnstagram account. Jami knows personally the difficulties of living and thriving with ADHD. Her diagnosis came in December 2020 at the age of 36. She spent most of her life struggling with social anxiety, lack of self-esteem, and self doubt unknowing much of it was due to being neurodivergent with undiagnosed ADHD. This became a catalyst in creating a safe and welcoming community for individuals to ask questions and find likeness in shared experiences. Jami is nationally certified as a Critical Care Registered Nurse and been awarded North Carolina's Great 100 Nurses. She facilitates diversity education through her local hospital educating Physicians, Nurses, and other staff the importance of recognizing inherent biases and inclusion in professional and day-to-day practices.