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The Secrets to Raising a Smarter Child Recommended |
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Effective Time Management Techniques for ChildrenBy Andrew Loh Teaching time management skills to your children is a time consuming task because children need more time to orient themselves to the basics of the art. Hence, you should set some basic rules before teaching them the basics of time management. Here are some of those rules: School day: Many things happen at school! Your child will undergo many experiences in his classroom. You may want to know something about them. Ask your children what happened in the classroom and try to decipher if there is anything special. Reschedule homework: Homework is the most important activity for your child. Make sure that you schedule it in such a way that your children will complete it without fail. It is "priority number one" for your children. It means that this schedule should go first in the time management schedule. Rearrange homework space: You should keep your children's homework place in mind. Some children are auditory learners while others prefer quiet and relaxing environment to do their homework. Stay fully involved in your children's class work: Young children need more supervision because of their age and indiscipline nature. Older children do not need so much attention. Stay with them when they are doing homework. Introduce time management techniques in a subtle way: As you prepare yourself to the task of introducing your children to time management techniques, you should initiate the basic principles of time management in a subtle way. Keep a clock nearby and keep reminding your children about the importance of time. Insist on finishing the homework on time. Reserve some time for homework and other related activities. Keep a desk calendar on the table and show children how to mark the calendar for finished work. In addition, tell them how to note down the date and timings for all future homework schedules. How your child thinks and acts will largely influence in what way you can train them for better time management techniques. It also depends on their learning styles. Logical and analytical learners like to organize their schedules and they are very neat and methodic. On the other hand, creative and emotional thinkers are somewhat disorganized and disoriented. You will need to keep these things in mind before starting time management classes. Every child is different in learning and attitude. You will have to keep these things in mind before initiating them to the art of time management. For young learners, you may wish to introduce pictorial and theme based exercises that relate to time management. Here are some of the simple techniques. Classical time chart This is possibly the most widely used time management tool in use today. A classical time chart will have a table with different activities those are graded according to their importance. Each activity will be allotted a specific amount of time and one is expected to finish the allotted task within time. The entire exercise should be continued without fail for a minimum of three months until such a time the child who practices it become accustomed to the art of time management. Making a time chart on a pizza A pizza, pie chart is a great way to teach your children the basics of time management. Cook a big pizza and ask your children watch you are going to do. Take a knife and prepare a pie chart on the pie. Divide the pie chart with the following types of activity and later assign time for each one of them. Here is an example:
Note: As you explain why time management is necessary for classroom success, you may want to enforce the rule so that your child children follow it without fail. The most important goal is to let your children know why following the schedule is important for them. Planning by time Allotting time for daily activities is another wonderful method. Prepare a time chart on a sheet of paper and hang it on your children's bedroom wall. The chart should include time slots for different activities. A child's daily life is a series of activities like cleaning, bathing, breakfast, travelling to school, attending classes, returning from school, playing, watching TV, homework, house chores, lunch, dinner etc. Make an hourly chart with each activity highlighted against every hour. Children must know how to prioritize their work. They should also know how to create a hierarchy of events and use it as a daily checklist to make best use of their time. Make them realize that schoolwork is the most important aspect of their life. Ask them to include all school activities in the checklist and assign period for each one of them. A small To-Do item list is a wonderful idea to streamline their daily activities. Time management is mastered by sheer work and consistent practice. No one can claim to be the best time manager. However, when your children start this exercise while they are young, they will would take the first real step towards achieving the best in their life. 
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