5 Tips to Get Your Children More Organized
Whether you are an educator or a parent, you realize how tough it can be to get your kids more organized. If you are a teacher, you may have nightmares about opening up students’ desks and seeing nothing but a pile of mess. If you are a parent, you may be having these same nightmares, but more than likely it is about looking into your kid’s closet or wondering how they got their room so messy so quickly. Why are there Christmas decorations up in your kid’s room in June? In any case, we are all in the same boat grabbing for the last life preserver. Listed below are five tips that may allow you to keep your sanity by getting your children’s organizational skills in check.
Create a Chart
Creating a detailed chart that shows the responsibility of each kid will provide a few key things. It will give them a list of items they have to be aware of each week where it is up to them to keep everything neat and tidy. Also, writing it down on paper somehow makes it more meaningful to many kids than having an adult just say it to them. Plus, there is no way they can talk their way out of it if they don’t have it done. There are numerous kids that will say they didn’t know they had to have their desk organized, pencils sharpened, and books carefully put away. With a list, you can just point to it and all discussion ends immediately.
Pair Them Up with an Appropriate Partner
Sometimes there are certain kids that just don’t get it when it is coming out of an adult’s mouth. For one reason or another, they just don’t grasp the things we are saying. In the classroom, this is when I step in and set them up with their own partner to help guide the way. It is like their own personal life coach as they tackle their organizational problems on a daily basis with the assistance of their new role model. Somehow when it is explained by a peer, they can recall things much better. It is one thing for a kid to disappoint an adult, but they definitely don’t want to disappoint their peers.
Have the Child Create His Own Organizer
In two of the three school districts I have worked with, the students were all provided their own organizer that allowed them to write in their assignments for the day, homework they still needed to finish, and any other personal notes they felt like writing down. This doesn’t have to be done only in the classroom. Depending upon the organizer, any child can use it for the classroom or at home. Find one that is suitable for your needs.
Provide Them Rewards
While I am not a big proponent of handing out rewards for things that should automatically be done, it does work for certain children. Of course, I would not have these rewards cost you anything much. Instead, have them more be like 15 minutes extra of recess once a week if they are on top of things or allow them to stay up half an hour longer past their bedtime during the weekend.
The Opposite of Reward
There are some parents that almost seem afraid to punish their child when they do something wrong. If you grew up in a family of disciplinarians, you can probably attest that you were told to do something once and if you didn’t, then there were consequences. I’m not promoting anything drastic like a trip out to the woodshed, but a grounding once in a while has never hurt anything. Plus, it makes them know you mean business.
Still Needing Assistance in Getting Your Child Organized?
It is perfectly fine to turn to the professionals for ideas on how to fix your child’s organizational problems. In fact, iAchieve may just offer the solution. We have had several successful Parent Presentations that provide adults what they need to know for parenthood. Even the messiest of children can turn it around to become organized adults, so don’t head on into despair too quickly.
Written by Ryan Crawley
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