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Keep a family calendar
The key to organizing your time is knowing what each day holds before that day begins. If you can’t find a calendar that provides separate spaces for each member of the family, use a different color ink for each person, and log in doctors’ appointments, birthday invitations, game schedules, lesson times, etc. as soon as you know of them. Check the calendar each evening to prepare for the next day. Who needs carpooling? Where’s the permission slip that’s due back to school? Are the soccer uniforms washed?
Post the morning routine on the refrigerator door
With many tasks done the night before, the list only needs to include the basics: eat breakfast, wash hands and face, brush teeth, dress, gather belongings, and GO. Rather than yelling at dawdlers, remind them to “check the list” to see how much they have yet to accomplish before leaving. Picture cues help non-readers stay on track.
Eliminate distractions
TV, videos and computer games are designed to distract, and they do. It’s impossible for a child engrossed in a program to pay attention to getting ready. If your uninterrupted shower depends on 10 minutes of TV, make those minutes the last item in your child’s morning routine. In this way, it can function as a reward – and an incentive – and when you’re ready to go out the door, so is your child.
Nancy Olsen-Harbich is a human development specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.
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