6 Tips for Teaching Kids Time Management

Before the global pandemic hit in 2020, I would have confidently told you our family was great at time management. We were never late, we finished our homework on time, and we had plenty of time to get everything done.

Jump to spring 2020, and you’d find us in total disarray. Homeschooling is done ad hoc, homework is checked when me or my husband can find 15 spare minutes away from our individual screens, and the TV has taken over all that lovely playtime we used to have.

It has taken us a while to get back into a time management routine that works for us as a family unit. But having realized how easy it is to slip into the habit of chaos, I’d like to share some of our tips on how to teach kids to better manage their time.

Let’s dive right in!

 

Help them come up with a checklist

To make it easier for young kids to manage their time (and tasks), you need to give them an actual task list. You may expect them to brush their teeth, pack their school bag, have breakfast, make their bed and get dressed, but they may forget about the bed making part, for example.

By giving them a specific list of tasks, you’re arming them for success.

Make the list as fun as it can be though. Make it colorful, by using different colored pencils for different tasks and commitments, as well as family time. For example, everything school-related can be blue, while family affairs, like dinner or helping out with the laundry, can be red.

Let them decorate their calendar with stickers, draw in reminders, and truly make it their own.

 

Ask for their input

While it may be perfectly tempting to fill in your kids’ calendar for them, letting them do it will prove to be not just a much better lesson, but a better way to manage their time as well.

Try to limit your input to the list itself, i.e. the things that need to get done, and the specific times when they need to be somewhere or ready for something.

Other than that, let them handle the order and deadlines.

Clearly communicate that they’re expected to tick off everything on their list (within reason, we all know sometimes that is just impossible). If they don’t, it will be due to their own miscalculations or procrastination, and not your pressure or micromanagement.

 

Teach them how to understand time

While it may be quite obvious to us how long it will take them to get dressed, our kids will rarely have the same grasp of time as we do. Teaching them what 5, 15, 30 minutes feels like, and how long they need to complete a task will help them become better at their task management puzzle.

Have them use a stopwatch (or a regular watch) to measure the time for each activity. You can also use an hourglass, the small ones are especially handy for brushing teeth, for instance.

After they track their times for a week, sit down with them to figure out an average. You can write it down in their calendar too, so they know that the 30 minutes they have between getting up and going to school can be filled with so many things.

 

Don’t micromanage

Speaking of micromanagement – just don’t do it.

I find that the one thing we tend to do as parents that we really need to teach ourselves to stop is jumping in to save the day. When we see our child struggling with a task, we do it instead.

I vividly remember my parents telling me not to wash the dishes when I was a teenager, with a wave of the hand and a “you’ll have your whole life to wash the dishes”.

Let your kids learn from their own mistakes and miscalculations. Let them form habits and routines of their own. Provide all the tools they may need: such as the task list, knowledge on how to understand time, and so on, but let them struggle with it.

Struggling and not getting it right is how we learn, and robbing them of that only teaches them mum and dad will be there to do the things they don’t want to do, or the things they find challenging.

 

Provide all the right tools and training

There is one more thing you need to provide to set your kids up for success. Well, it may actually be dozens of things.

If you are homeschooling your kids, they need to have their study corner ready, their tasks laid out for the day, and easy access to all the pens, books, paper and crafts they will need during the day.

If they need to tidy a certain area, they need to know where the duster is, and where to throw out the trash. It’s also a good practice to first hold some training sessions of each task so they know what success looks like.

 

Set limits and boundaries

Finally, you’ll need to set some clear limitations and boundaries for them to work in. While you’re giving them the freedom and autonomy to arrange their day however it suits them, there still need to be some rules to follow.

For example, homework needs to be done by 7PM. They need to be ready for school by 8AM. They have 45 minutes to tidy their room. And so on.

Another important boundary to set is screen time. Alot them a specific amount of time for the TV, their phone if they have one and any other device. They can track their own time, and know when the devices need to be turned off.

The same should apply to you. If you say there’s no TV after 9PM, try to stick to the same rules. This is especially true for your phone. If they don’t get to have their phone on them at meal time, neither do you.

 

Reward a Job Well Done

Finally, try setting up a reward system as well. The kids will of course already have received the rewards that come from learning to manage their time better, but these are immeasurable and often not appreciated until later in life.

The learning process can usually be accelerated if you offer some sort of reward. Just like you would treat them to ice cream when they ace their math quiz, a similar treat will go a long way in this case too.

The reward system will teach them another important lesson as well: how important it is to schedule time for fun too. This is where all the fun of game nights with the family or dinner in front of the TV come in.

Let them choose the reward, and make sure you fit it into your schedule too – that way you’ll be teaching them the importance of respecting other people’s time as well.

 

Final thoughts

I hope these tips will help you teach your kids how to manage their time better. Let me know how you’re tackling time management, and if you have any other insightful tips!

 

About the Author

Julia is the mom of two girls (and two Labradors), who has recently found the time (and energy) to start writing more and more. She is currently working on getting the hang of WordPress and establishing her own website, while trying to juggle working from home and homeschooling. She’s a huge fan of Clue, and has several boards in her collection.