Some children are naturally organized but most of the children finds it difficult and they struggle to get and stay organized and manage their time they often keep their rooms messy, forgot to do their homework, always run behind schedule, fail to complete the task, misplacing stationery and etc which create conflict with parents as they start to nag on children for their irresponsibility which can have a bad effect on parent-children relationships.
So what to do? The first thing parents should realize is that they are just children they still have to learn a lot of things in life and they won’t learn all the things just by nagging at them so instead of nagging parents should come forward and help their children in getting organized, help them with day to day task and teach them to stay organized. Surely it will take some time to build a habit but once children learn to stay organized this habit will help children in succeeding in life beyond schooling.
Here are some tips to help your child improve organization skills at home, at school, and beyond.
1 – Divide Task into small parts
When children get a project or when parents assign children some work it becomes overwhelming for small children to complete the whole task so parents can help children in dividing the task into the small achievable task and then complete it one by one for example if children have to clean their room they will get overwhelmed by the task and will get confused from where to begin but if they divide the work in the small task the task will become achievable in less time like first clean bedsheets, than the floor, fold clothes, and etc. This will not only help children organized but also helps in developing problem-solving skills.
2 – Making checklists and to-do lists.
The next task for parents is to encourage children to start using checklists or to-do lists. This will help them to keep track of their progress and children will not forget or skip any important task at hand. Help them create a checklist every night so they know what important task to be done next day, for these children can use various apps which makes it easy to create a checklist or simply you can write it on a piece of paper and carry with yourselves so at the end of the day your main task should be to complete as many tasks as possible, this will create a habit to always stay organized and keep track of your tasks.
3 – Create an organized workspace.
Parents can create a workspace or a study room for their children where they can study, complete homework, do research, etc without any disturbance and make sure the room is set organized and have all the required technology like internet, computer, printer and tools like stationery, calculators, geometry box, maps, etc. When children work in an environment that is highly organized they will get comfortable and used to it this will indirectly inspire them to be organized.
4 – Do regular backpack audits.
The backpack is the most important part of school as children carry them to school each day so it should be neat and clean so parents should audit the backpack each day and prepare the backpack accordingly for the next day by looking at the time table and what set of books and notes they require. This will help students to keep their backpacks neat and tidy and well organized and doing this practice every day will create a habit to stay organized.
5 – Teach calendar and time management skills
Parents should help children by encouraging them to plan for events or tasks well in advance. For this, they can take the help of a calendar by marking or clicking a date and writing the task name above it or they can use a digital calendar that will remind you of the task. This habit will come in handy at the time of project or exams as children put the task in the calendar and start preparing accordingly this will enhance their time management skills and the main focus for children should be to complete the task before the deadline this will save them time for revision or reviewing the project.
6 – Creating a Time Table
Children should be encouraged to create a timetable for themselves in which they should divide the amount of time after school for various activities like homework, playing sports time, tv time, etc. This will help children to stay organized in their routine of tasks of each day.
