Let's get organized

How can we, as parents, help our children get — and remain — organized this school year? A few tips:

• Take a hint from most teachers who know a transition needs to be comfortable in order to work. Give your children a little slack by being forgiving the first days when they forget their lunch or are reticent to get out of bed. But don’t go overboard holding their hands as you help them ease into the more rigid routine that being in the classroom requires. Remind them that it is their responsibility to remember their lunch or get out of bed on time. After a few days they should grasp the school-year routine.

Where will your child do homework? Whether it’s the kitchen table or a room set aside for school tasks, your child needs to know where he or she can do homework. Keep a few things in mind when setting up the area:

• Lighting: Nothing makes a child’s eyes tire more quickly than when the lighting is too dim over a project. Check your favorite lighting store for a lamp that gives off “task” lighting vs. atmospheric lighting.

• Your child needs a flat, hard surface to work on; this doesn’t necessarily need to be a desk. The surface can be a table top or large lap desk.

• Compartmentalize papers, books and other equipment (pens, rulers, miscellaneous). Your child’s desk should have drawers to hold these necessities. If you are not using a desk, implement file cabinets, baskets or plastic containers, each clearly labeled and organized with file folders when possible.

• Setting: Your child’s work station does not have to be in his or her room. Like adults, your child may appreciate having a desk in another area of the house.

• Get into the agenda habit. Your child’s life (no matter what age) is likely as busy as yours. One of the best ways to get organized is to keep an agenda for your child in which school assignments, events and activities are kept track of — in addition to after-school and social activities.

• Teach your child to work backwards from a project’s due date by thinking about what needs to be considered. Is your first grader responsible for a report on mice, complete with a drawing? Help them think through the steps they will need to finish, how long each step will take, what they need for each step, etc. Then count back that many days from the due date to see when your child needs to get started on the project in order to finish on time.

• Choose a set time for homework. Will your child tackle assignments directly after school, after a snack, after soccer practice or piano lessons? Keep this schedule as sacred as possible so that your child expects to keep his routine.

-- Gannett News Service

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