How to Help Your Children Get Organized
Pauline Li,
MSSS Social Counselor
The start of a new year is all about resolutions, fresh starts, and bettering ourselves. Developing good organizational skills is a key ingredient for success in school and life. How to help your children get organized for the new year:
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Develop a routine. Consistency is the key to student success, so encourage your children to write down a general weekly schedule and create a routine. Your children should know that a certain time every day is reserved for studying and doing assignments. Even if they don’t have assignments, the reserved time should be used to review the day’s lessons, read for pleasure or prepare an upcoming test or project.
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Encourage your children to write everything down. No one has a perfect memory, so make a habit of writing down all your events, projects, assignments, and ideas.
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Use a planner. Put everything in your planner. You may use Google Calendar, Google Keep or a hard copy planner. It keeps your children calm and in control and allows them to adjust their daily and weekly priorities. Help your children get into the habit of looking at the planner first before starting doing assignments or studying for a test.
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Keep organized notebooks. This will help students review the material for each day’s classes and to organize later to prepare for every upcoming test.
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Work on one task at a time. One of the most important organizational tips for your children is to focus on one task at a time. Multitasking seems like a good idea because you can pretend that you’re working twice as hard, but it doesn’t result in the best outcomes.
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Break down big tasks into smaller tasks. This makes your children seem less overwhelmed and the work more manageable.
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Before settling down to study, eliminate all distractions.
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Encourage your children to set rules for themselves, for example, complete all projects and assignments at least a day before they are due or start studying for tests at least one week in advance.
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Make a night-before-school checklist. It only takes a few minutes to do, but makes the mornings that much less stressful with reminders about what materials to bring to class.
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Improve the sleep schedule. Children need more sleep than they think.
Developing these skills won’t happen overnight. They need practice to continue to develop. Let these skills become go-to habits that make your children’s lives work better.