Expandable Folder from Staples

For those Comfy/Cozy Organizers who want to keep all their books, notebooks, and floders with them at all times, think about carrying around a few expandable files.  They can have a folder for each subject to hold all the items needed for class, including the text book.  No rummaging through the backpack looking for your notebook and folder, just take out the expandable folder and everything you need is right in front of you.  They don’t seem to take up a lot of room either.

We quickly addressed the issue.  Instead of creating a monthly calendar of events, we broke the month into weekly calendars.  These 5 sheets of weekly calendars made for a visual of tasks he could handle.  Looking at a sheet listing a months worth of activities can be exasperating for the overwhelmed child.  Next we, inserted after school time lines and the priority activities that he know of- games, tutoring, drivers ed, Dr’s appointments and such.  We also factored in time to eat and travel from one location to another.  People always seem to forget to include this task.

Tell your child that the time management schedule you just made is not edged in stone but to be used as a guide to what assignments /tasks need to be accomplished.  For those of you who don’t want to hear me say “post it’s”, cover your eyes….and ears for those of you who are having this read to you.  Write each task on a small post it and place it in the time slot you want to finish the task.  If you decide not to complete the task in that indicated time, for whatever reason, take the post it off and place it in another time slot that you’ll be able to complete the task.  When the task has been completed, throw away the post it.

Take a large rubber band, and put the back note book cover, through it until it hits the middle seam and can’t move any further. The part of the rubber band that will be visible on the outside of the note book will be used to hold the book in the 3 rings of the binder.

Open the rings of the binder and place the outside band through the rings and then close the rings….as if you were putting looseleaf in the binder.

Such a simple idea but I can’t take credit for it. One of my 12 year old clients thought of this technique and it works for him. By the way, he’s a comfy/spatial organizer!

My suggestion is to be the child’s safety net.  Monitor the child’s progress while standing by closely in the background. If the child does the needed task (e.g., puts her homework in the homework folder), there is no harm to the child’s learning curve that you double-checked.  On the occasional time that the child forgets to do the needed task, then fortunately, you are there to be their safety net and provide a softer landing for the child’s poor executive skills. It’s not fair that the child fail math simply because he is disorganized.

Safety nets are how they do it in the Olympics. The spotter steps in to monitor the athlete’s dangerous maneuvers, and no one accuses the spotter of interfering with the athlete’s need to take her own skills seriously. Most of the time, the spotter is not needed; but when they are needed, thankfully they are there.  Be your child’s safety net. Allowing severe failure does not teach skills.

My point is, there are still many kids who feel intimidated in the classroom and are worried about getting called on by teacher.  I had one of my clients express that he too was so worried about getting selected to answer the question that he couldn’t “hear’ what the teacher was asking.  Imagine the embarrassment of a tween giving an answer to a question that doesn’t make sense.  They’re mortified!

I suggest to many of my parents to ask the teachers of these somewhat anxious or slow processing kids, to give the kids an advanced warning of the question.  For example,” Jimmy, I want you to think about the causes of WWII for a minute and I’ll come back to you in a few minutes.”   I love this strategy and only wished that Sr. Dominic had used this in her God fearing class.  Kids will have the time to think about their answers and not be put on the spot.  If they don’t know that answer, they can ask the teacher for more time to think about it.  One of the goals of the class is not to answer questions as if you’re on Jeopardy but to participate at your speed.

There is an interesting article in Parenting magazine that discusses discipling children. It offers useful tips and straight forward tactics for parents to utilize when trying to set boundaries for their kids.

Remember, children will be more willing participants if they feel empowered. As mentioned in the article above, give your child some choices instead of giving them direct commands. Instead of telling them to clean their room now, give them some options. Would they like to clean their room now or after lunch. The goal of cleaning the room will be accomplished and giving your child the choice of WHEN they will clean it will make them feel more of an active participant in making decisions in the family

I was surfing the web, looking for some information about the relationship between the risky behavior and children.  Even if your child is NOT ADHD, this article is informative and gives an easy explaination about the subject.