Developing a Child’s Time Management Skills

Are you tired of constantly reminding your child to do their homework and chores on time? Are you fed up with them not getting things done even after you remind them? Every parent feels the same way. However, there is a way to make these all stop, and that is by developing your child’s time management skills.

Now, here are some of the methods you can use to develop your kid’s time management skills.

Estimating Time

Teach your child how to estimate time. A lot of children are unaware of how long it takes to do chores and homework. In a child’s mind, time is flexible.

When a child is faced with an unpleasant task, he will often feel like it’s going to take a long time, therefore, he will avoid it. He will choose to have fun first like checking his Facebook account, watching videos on YouTube or playing video games. Even if he spends little time on each of these will add up to a lot of time.

So, how do you address this problem? Well, first of all, encourage your child to collect data for exactly how long each of his homework or chore will really take. You can create a record sheet for the common activities that your child does on a daily basis. Break down morning routines from daily chores and homework.

The record sheet should have two columns. The first column will contain you child’s estimated time. The other column will contain the amount of time it really takes to finish each of his activities, from start to finish.

If your child wants to multi-task while he’s doing his homework, make sure you record it as well. And then, compare the data with the one when he didn’t multi-task. To increase the benefit of this activity, only time a couple of activities each day.

Make sure that you discuss the results with your child. Ask your child what he thinks about the result and what surprised him about the length of time he finished through his activities.

To encourage your child to do this activity, it would be better if you’d also record how long it takes you to do your daily activities. It may even surprise you as well.

Creating Plans

Another good way to teach your child to manage his time is by teaching him how to create plans. As you may know, children and even teenagers live in the present. The future is often a foreign concept to them.

Kids want to have fun at the present and do their work later. Thus, they end up having meltdowns before they go to sleep and they often get into conflicts with their parents.

To avoid meltdowns and conflicts with your child, encourage your child to create a daily plan or a to-do list. Here’s how you teach your child how to create a daily plan:

Have a tool where your child can record the plan. You can create one on your own or if you don’t have time to do so, there are many time organizers or daily planners on Amazon, like our Yoyoboko Paint Palette Daily Planning Clock. Be sure to place the daily planner somewhere it can be seen easily.

After creating or buying a daily planner or time organizer, set a routine time to plan. We’ll use the word “routine” so as to make these activities become an automatic habit. Making a routine can help link an old or existing habit with a new one.

Then, write down your own plan for the day and make sure your child is there while you’re doing this task. For example, have your child with you when you are writing down your plan for the evening. Your plan will include preparing for dinner, having dinner and after dinner chores, as well as, bedtime activities like brushing your teeth and putting kids to sleep.

After showing your child how to make a plan, encourage her to do the same. Remember that while she’s doing this, your role is only to provide guidance. Do not write her plans for her.

One her plan is complete, record the real times for each task on the list. Before you do this, make sure you have collected a data on how much time is needed to finish each task/activity, from start to finish.

Encourage your child to cross out the activities that he finished and have him show it to you once all the work is complete. Do not correct you child’s output. Instead, praise him for his effort. As you may already know, a little praise can go a long way, especially when it involves children.

Now, bear in mind that these likely won’t work the first time. However, with a little more effort and patience, your child will surely get the gist of it. Once in a while, ask your child about his tasks and activities, and never lose your temper.