Teaching Time Management Early On

I remember my first semester in college, I was forced to take a class on "time management". It was a crucial skill to have throughout your college years, so on and so forth. At the end of the class, I remember thinking "wow this would have been helpful 10 years ago." I kid you not. Time management is especially difficult when you're young, yet it's so important in terms of getting your homework done, long-term projects, following a routine and number one: making your parents proud.

There's a great amount of children who have time management skills down, but also a great amount who don't. And it's imperative that time management is taught early on. It boggles me that it's not in early curricular, because it truly is that important. But I'm not here to convince you of how important it is. If you have a child, you probably know. They spend seven hours a day at school, absorbing as much knowledge as they can (probably more per day than you have to), and after that it's on to extra-curricular activities: another few hours. When they're finally ready to settle, it's homework time! You might think back on your school days with a smile, but it's up to you to make sure your child does too. And a great way to do this is by teaching them how to manage their time effectively, to succeed in and out of school. And so we move on to the juice. I've got some great tips for teaching time management skills to early learners and highly suggest you consider implementing them into your child's life.

It's important that time management skills transition from school to home. The following strategies should be utilized to help young ones learn time management and apply it to their own lives successfully:

• It's important that children learn to view time as an important thing, to be highly valued. A good practice is to associate it with a real object so your child can see time as it passes. Get them a colorful clock or visual timer, perhaps an hour glass, and assist them in organizing the time in their day. Seeing time pass with their own eyes will instill a sense of temporal significance, which won't hurt (as long as you don't bear down on them for not grasping it right away). 
• Give them a break before homework time. Provide them a healthy snack, like fruit or raw vegetables with their favorite dressing. It will restore their brain after a long day of learning, and help them apply their energy toward homework time. 
• Associate increments of time to your child, teaching them to understand how long things should take. ("It should take you thirty minutes to finish this assignment. That's as much time as it takes for us to drive to your Aunt Josie's house").
• Set aside an area in your house for your child to sit up and do his/her homework, with lots of light, little-to-no extra stimuli (such as a TV in the room or one blaring in the next). Make sure you keep their visual timer close, but if you sense that it is causing them stress and effecting their attention span, give them more time on the clock. 
• Monitor their daily homework activity. Help them to schedule their more difficult assignments first, the ones that will take more time and thought. If your child is in an Individualized Education Program (IEP), their teacher may sometimes have input on how much time particular homework assignments of theirs should take. There's no harm in asking. Encourage your child to inquire themselves. One day, they'll have to, and it's best you get them acclimated to proper and helpful student-teacher rapport early on. 
• Be involved. Don't assume you annoy your child's teacher by being involved in their education. Most actually enjoy a parent's involvement, and sometimes it's of assistance. Have your child's teacher suggest amounts of time to finish particular assignments based on your child's performance in school. Again, time management skills should carry over from school to home. So keep expectations consistent. 

 Resource

Spivey, Becky L., M. E.d. "Teaching Time Management at Home" Handy Handouts (2013): http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/334_Teaching_Time_Mgmt_at_Home.pdf