Build Routines Now

Take advantage of the last few weeks of summer before school begins and start building some good routines now.

Start by identifying the behavior that most negatively impacts the school year. Are they continually late? Forgetting things or losing them?

Once you have a problem identified, you can begin to help your child solve it. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

One of the keys to getting out the door on time is to be prepared – to know where the things are that you need and to keep track of time.

As mom, you can establish a place for backpacks and any other thing that might need to go out the door in the morning. For now, get your child in the habit of leaving their shoes in that place. (Just one pair).

Also as mom, you can purchase one or more analog clocks

and put them any place that your child might be when they get ready for school. This might include their bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen.

Analog clocks are more visual than digital ones and help show the passage of time more effectively.

Once the clocks are in place, have your child keep track of the time it takes to do something, like take a shower or have breakfast.

Also, start getting them in the habit of choosing their clothes and laying them out the night before.

For a child who is always forgetting things, try tying the action into an established behavior. For now, just pick something that they always forget. Once the school year begins, you can refine the newly learned skill to school habits.

For instance, forgetting needed books at school is a common problem. For now, you want to train them to go through a checklist when they are in a certain place.
Eventually, this behavior will be triggered at their locker each day.

If your child is playing sports or doing some other sort of organized activity, you can use preparing for this as your exercise. If softball practice or a game happens a few times a week, have them make sure the equipment is together before they leave.

Or you could use something as simple as their daily shower. Take all of the shampoo, conditioner, etc, out of the bathroom (or shower) and put it in the bathroom cupboard or linen closet. The idea here is to get them to stand in front of that closet every morning and be able to pull out everything they need from memory.

Helping a child who constantly loses things is a little more difficult. My son, who is 25, still has problems.

The easiest way to deal with this is to provide places for commonly lost things. For instance, we have a table near the front door that holds car keys, and cell phone chargers are kept in one designated place.