Time Management, Communication & Organizational Skills for Youth & their Parents

Michaela: [00:00:00] Hey y’all, it’s Michaela Evans with Kentucky SPIN. And today I just wanted to give you some tips on how to work on time management skills with your kids while they’re at home. So I’m going to show you our system and kind of what works for us. I’m going to switch my camera around so y’all can see my refrigerator calendar.

So this is our monthly calendar, if it’s something I know that’s reoccurring or know ahead of time, I go ahead and write it on our calendar so my son has a heads up, an advanced notice on what’s going to happen each day and a little bit about what our day looks. And that helps him. So he knows, anything in pink, like you guys see, he knows is quiet time, when mom’s hosting a webinar or doing a zoom meeting, or anything like that.

And I will go and give him a verbal reminder, right before, just to make sure. But at least this lets him know that he can’t be in the living room playing video games, you [00:01:00] know, at a certain time on these days, things like that. Every Wednesday is trash day that’s Caleb’s chore.

He knows that he needs to have the trash out and by the curb by Wednesday morning. Monday, Wednesday, Friday are our shower days, and then he gets to pick which weekend day he wants to shower, either Saturday or Sunday. So that’s on there to remind him. He also knows that he’s doing school with his teacher, which is, you know, virtually right now, Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at three o’clock until that ends on May the 12th.

Then anything he has, like his therapy appointments are always Mondays. We try to keep them Mondays at one o’clock, so Caleb knows what to expect. Those are being done. His speech occupational therapy and physical therapy are all through telehealth right now, which is really nice. So Caleb can just jump on there while I’m doing work.

Saturday night is our game nights. We usually order pizza and play board games, sometimes a video game. but Caleb usually gets to pick what we’re doing that night. So, that’s something that he kind of gets to look forward to as [00:02:00] he completes his tasks throughout the week. Any doctor’s appointments, anything like that, we also include on the calendar. And then of course, every day looks a little bit different. So, I have on here today, he needs to brush his teeth, feed the dogs is something that we have been working on since he’s been home. It’s a little bit complicated cause we’ve got one that likes to eat all of the foods.

So helping him learn that process, we are working on, cleaning our room and what steps are involved in that? So Caleb’s supposed to be doing that today, while I’m working. And then, also I need to do laundry. So today he’s taken his dirty clothes, and his bedclothes to the laundry room. So mom can take care of that tonight.

Just another reminder that he’s got school at 3:00 PM like is on his monthly calendar. And then, his task for today is to help mom fix dinner. And Caleb knows on nights when we do that, he gets to pick what it is that we’re eating. And we kind of walked through the steps on how to prepare. [00:03:00] And, fix a meal and the steps involved with that. So, that’s usually how all of that goes. And I’ll post a link to the Amazon calendar that I got, that I use that works for us, in case anybody else wants to try it out was really inexpensive. I found it to be helpful. and of course, if you guys have any questions or need any other tips, you can give us a call at Kentucky SPIN.

And I hope this helps you guys have a great day.

Stella: [00:03:28] Well, hey everyone, it’s Stella with Kentucky SPIN. I wanted to take just a few minutes and talk to you kiddos about some time management things that you can do with your family. And one of the things that I want to talk to you about is having good communication with your parents.

Because this is a time right now when we’re all at home together, we’re all kind of hanging out at the house. We’re all, you know, just kind of trying to find things to do. And so it’s really important that you communicate with your parents and let them know [00:04:00] what’s going on, about your NTI work, about things that maybe you’re struggling with maybe, you know, just having a conversation with them. A couple of things that my family does that I think has really helped is we are trying to keep connected as best as we can. I’m working from home. They’re at home also doing schoolwork or hanging out, and so we have a group chat that we do, and so if I’m going to be on the webinars or something, I send something in the group chat and then I want them to reply back to me and let them know maybe something that they’re doing right now.

Or maybe something they need to communicate with me about. So I think that’s real important. So having good communication is real, real important, especially during this time right now. And you know text your parents, let them know what’s going on, let them know if you’re struggling, give them a call, go sit and hang out with them for a few minutes.

Do something like that. Hopefully the weather is going to start getting better soon and we can go back outside again and I so miss that right now. [00:05:00] The second thing I want to talk to you about is just doing something fun and silly with your parents. One of the things that I’ve been doing with my kids lately are tictok videos. And they laugh at me and they think it’s so funny, but I’m loving doing that with him.

It helps me stay connected with them and guess what? It lets them connect with me too. So you kids invite your parents to do a tictok video with them. I know you know what it is and I know you know how to do it. So pick something easy and fun that you can do with them. And right after I get done talking, you are going to get to see my son Clayton and I doing a tictok video together.

So I hope you enjoy it, but remember, communicate and have fun.

[music playing during tictok video]

Kellie: [00:05:58] Hey guys, [00:06:00] it’s Kellie with Kentucky SPIN. I just wanted to talk to you for just a second about time management and the organization conduct. The way I’m going to talk to you about time management and organization is a little bit different from what Stella and Michaela had to say. So what I’m going to say is be intentional about your days. Every morning it helps me if I sit down and do what I call a brain dump. I get at a scratch piece of paper and everything that’s running through my mind, I write it all down. And then I start to organize those things, those thoughts, about, you know, what’s important, what’s not important? What can I do right now? What am I going to have to do later?

And then so I can start to prioritize my day. You’re still in school right now and it’s just about over. So things are kind of wrapping up there. [00:07:00] But if you have schoolwork, you’d definitely want to in, you know, get that under control. Cause you wanna make sure that you get onto your next grade when school starts back next year.

You want to make sure that you pass and you also want to make sure that you are doing everything you can do, to be the kind of person that you want to be. Most of us don’t want to be disorganized. We don’t want to waste our time. We don’t want our parents fussing at us. So just be really intentional about what you want to do each day and what it’s going to take to get that done.

Just dump it all out, every morning. Now that’s going to help if you have a calendar or a schedule so you know what’s coming up. But I’m sure just like myself and my children, you probably have a lot on your mind when you first wake up, that you need to take care of, or things that you don’t want to do.

Maybe you have to clean your room. Maybe you have to mow the yard. Maybe you want to go hang out with your [00:08:00] friends, whatever the case may be. There’s probably some things that you want to do with your day, so I highly recommend that you just write it all down, dump it all out of your brain and organize it that way.

And just be really intentional, about deciding what you want, what you want your life to look like. And figure out how to make that happen. I know that’s easier said than done, so I encourage you to reach out to your parents if there’s a certain way that you want your attitude to look, or the way you do things to look, reach out to your parents and ask them for help.

Ask them to help develop those skills that you need and just take that time and really invest in yourself. You’re living in a time that is unlike any other time that any of us have ever experienced, where you have that opportunity to really [00:09:00] just be alone with yourself and figure out what do I want my life to look like and go for it.