As we begin 2012, I look forward to discussing strategies to help your family get focused and organized. Here are a few tips to help start your year on the right foot.
Work with a family calendar. It doesn’t matter how old or young your children are, using a family calendar that shows the big picture of the month helps keep everyone moving along. Your children likely have a wonderful calendar tool in their preschool or child care environment that helps them interact with the month through movable pieces. There is no reason why you can’t have the same kind of calendar at home. The point is, if you start and end each day reviewing the calendar, you are setting the foundation for good time management for the day, week, month and life!
Help your family take care of their things. Having a place for everything and actually putting those things in their place seems like such a hard thing to do, but truly it’s not. Work with your children to establish a routine of putting things back where they belong when they are done. Simply give each child a basket or two to pick up their things in the family room, the playroom or the bedroom before they go to bed. Be sure you have built in that extra time as part of the routine to wind down so it does not become a stressful activity. Again, you are teaching your child a lifelong skill!
Work with your family to have fun. I know it sounds funny to think of fun time with your family as “work,” but sometimes you need to make time on that family schedule for the fun. Think about adding things like weekend trips to the park, quality time together at home or a family game night. Carve out time for fun activities with your family and keep your focus on them during that time, rather than on your to-do’s around the house. Your time with family is precious!
I hope these three tips help you create a more focused New Year that is naturally well-organized and all about fun. I look forward to seeing you next time and please leave a comment and tell me what you are doing in 2012 to be more focused and organized.
