1. It’s ‘easier’ (and not easy) to change your child’s body clock than to try to get him to stick with the routine, so let’s put the easiest things first on our list of goals. The simplest part is regulating your hunger schedules. While lunchtime at school will do half the trick, regulate your snacks, dinner, and breakfast. Serve each meal at a specific time to regulate your hunger schedules. Welcoming you after school with a tasty energetic snack can be a great start.
2. The next and biggest obstacle is bedtime. There will always be distractions, but don’t allow flexibility for more than 30 minutes on weekdays. Put your foot on the ground if necessary and create a lights-out environment. Rest assured, the resistance will not last a month and your baby will start to yawn before you can drag him to bed.
3. Present your child with a daily planner or, if he is not a fan of gadgets, follow traditional schedules. Set reminders for important dates and job submissions, keeping time for plenty of action time; induce your child to act accordingly. You will be happy with yourself, as the school would appreciate you for never missing exam dates and presentations. That is the time when it will begin to act without your efforts.
4. Get an agenda book or ask him to use his school journal to write his assignments and not just complaints and holiday notices. Make it mandatory to list all homework assignments, due dates, and test dates, even if you can remember. Check what’s on your plate for the day and help you manage your time. This is an important lesson for life: document things before they become a mess.
5. All this testing is useless if you had to turn the whole house upside down to find the sketchbook. So, create a special school zone in your home where things are neat and absolutely nothing of the school stuff is found anywhere else. Assign a different corner and a separate closet. Use labels, sticky notes, and color codes generously to keep things neat. Help your child keep it organized until he learns how to do it himself.
6. Help your child remember the things to bring home during the day when you leave in a hurry. Have him divide your locker or desk drawer into two halves: the left side may have the things you want to get back, and the right side the things you don’t need.
7. Meet in the school zone before you leave for the day and get things ready for the next day. See if you have stored things correctly and guide you if you have not. It will help him take the things he needs for the next day, keep things organized for him, and make it easier for him to control his daily activities. Plus, a daily supervised reorganization is much better than cleaning up a week’s mess.
8. Lastly, don’t look at these tips in a tyrannical way. Make them a quiet part of your life and not a test. Remember, there is only one childhood and there is a lifetime for him to stress out and get to work.