Your Ticket to Freedom
Time management is a critical skill for success at school, at work and at life in general and the earlier we build those skills the easier things get.
If you’re looking for ways to help your kids build their time management skills (and give yourself some extra breathing space as a result), try these 4 steps.
- Invest in a visual calendar. It can be in any type of calendar, poster format, planner format, even online if you prefer (but writing things down is preferable).
If you write things down you have a greater neurological connection with it – also your brain will compute, come up with ideas and problem solve in the background in the meantime. So by the time you get around to the task, your brain has already set you up for success – thank you kindly brain.
- Sunday is Funday! Set aside 30 minutes to chat to your kids about the week ahead. Work with them (initially) to block off important meetings, after school activities, birthdays, evening plans and weekend plans.
- Let the kids manage (even if at first they don’t do it well) and take ownership of their schedule for the week. Keep up with the weekly meetings to make sure they stay on track.
- After school each day update the planner/calendar and block off when things are due for school. Once they know when things are due the can reverse engineer from that due date, blocking off time to actually work on or study for the thing that’s due.
For example, if they have a maths test on Friday, that means on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday they’ll be doing things to prepare for that maths test. And they’re blocking time chunks on that calendar to show how they’re going to prepare and not leave things to the last minute.
- Ensure they plan around essential after school activities/ hobbies/ part-time jobs etc. Adding in blocks of time for spontaneity and fun.
Time management gives kids freedom and control over their week and a sense of ownership of the week ahead. The 5 tips above will help strengthen their time management and organisation skills which will not only reduce stress levels but also improve school outcomes. Get them started on planning their week with our range of weekly planners at littlemusings.com