Organizing Your Kids - Part I
I know this is supposed to be a post about organizing your house, but hey, your kids LIVE in your house so you might as well organize them too while you're at it. I'm sure their future wives or husbands will bless you for it and it might help with your sanity as well.
Launch Pad
I think a launch pad is an essential part of kid wrangling. What is a launch pad, you ask? Well, it can be just about anything - a hook, a shelf, a bulletin board, or even a chair. What you need is a specific place to keep their bookbag, coat, lunch box, and whatever other stuff that needs to go to school with them. Then whenever they have a homework assignment, or a permission slip, or a school book that needs to go with them, you put it in the launch pad and they have a pretty good chance of remembering it. Note that this tip works great for parents too!
Homework Station
This year, we started something new in addition to the launch pad. I set up a homework station - just a little plastic organizer with a collection of file folders for completed assignments, homework in progress, and papers from the school that I need to read. This really helps with getting the papers out of the bookbag, but not letting them get scattered all over my kitchen. We also incorporated extra paper, pencils and other items so he can do his homework at the kitchen table where we can supervise him.
Chore Checklist
We also started a new checklist concept this year. My son has ADHD so getting him into daily routines and patterns is extremely important. But as the old saying goes - you can lead a boy to college, but you can't make him think (or something like that!). So I sat down and thought about all the things I wanted him to do in a day - make his bed, wear clean clothes, take a shower, do his homework, practice his instrument, etc. I put them all on a checklist and put spaces for every day of the week. As he does every item every day (hopefully!), he checks it off the list and then keeps count of his check marks.
However, I needed to create some motivation for him to want to use the check list every day. So, what does every 10 year old boy want? Video games. And money. So we decided that he could not play video games until a certain number of items were checked off his list. If he gets most of his items done, he gets video game time. If he gets them all done, he gets game time, and a dollar! That's how we give him his allowance, so he can earn up to $7 a week. It hasn't been a perfect system and we've refined it a bit here and there, but on the whole, it's worked better than anything else we've tried.
Room Organization
Kid's rooms can sometimes be a nightmare. I know mine always were. One thing that helps is to really cut back on the amount of stuff they have to deal with. Several years back, I started banning toys from the bedrooms and that was the best decision I ever made. The only things I allow them to have in their rooms are clothes, books, and stuffed animals. Seriously, that makes it so much easier to manage. I also make sure there is a large laundry basket and a trash can. I just recently labeled his drawers and that is also a big help, but you need to go in a couple of times a year and just help them to reorganize and restructure a bit.
On Line Organization
One thing that has been a big help to me is my Google calendar. I have the ability to set up recurring reminders on both my account and both my son's accounts. I set up a schedule of reminders to clean the cat boxes, clean their rooms, have my older son and husband check the fluids in the cars, empty the trash cans, and do the vacuuming. That has been a really big help because I'm terrible about remembering to do things on a set schedule. But my computer remembers for me just fine!
Truth or Consequences
In order to accomplish all this, you need to have some consequences in place for when the kids don't do the things they are supposed to do. We have several different methods that work for us. First of all, it is a standing rule that if someone doesn't do an assigned chore, they not only have to do the chore the next day, they also have to do a penalty chore of my choosing. We also have something fun where if they don't make their beds or do some other simple chore, their brother can do it and charge them $1 fee. That's actually a pretty good incentive because it really ticks them off. And on the chore checklist, if I catch him marking down anything he hasn't actually done, there is a two day penalty of loss of video games. Yes, I'm a mean Mommy, but it's working and it's saving my sanity, so I declare it a good thing!
Stop by next time and I'll give you some ideas for getting kids up and out the door in record time!
Click here for Part 2 of Organizing Your Kids
Be sure and come back next Monday and Friday for the next installment in my Clutterbugs series. To see the rest of the series, just click the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post and it will bring up a list of them.
Click here for Part 2 of Organizing Your Kids
Be sure and come back next Monday and Friday for the next installment in my Clutterbugs series. To see the rest of the series, just click the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post and it will bring up a list of them.
By TwitterButtons.com
6 comments:
All great tips! Happy New Year! I hope your inversion and cold snap clears soon!
Ok, I'm addicted to chore lists! If only my husband would abide by one!
Hey mama!
I'm stopping over from SITS - Happy Wednesday! I love, love, love (did I mention love?) the idea about the sibling charging $1 to complete a task. ;o) That'd be totally great incentive to do it yourself. I sort of wish that it worked with husbands, though (I'd pay mine $1 to load the dishwasher for sure!).
Have a great rest of the week!
Kelly
I like your launch pad idea. We could use on of those for grown-ups too.
I'm trying all of these, succeeding at some.
Every since we installed a launch pad we have noticed marked improvement in our ability to keep stuff together. And, it's also cut down on the number of assignments turned in with grease spots splattered all over them. My son's teacher probably thought we ate grease burgers with grease sauce and a side of grease with an ice cold glass of grease to wash it down every night it was so bad. Thinks for linking up this week. Appreciate the love:)
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