Handwriting on the Desk and Other Random Parenting Hints

Handwriting on the Desk and Other Random Parenting Hints

If your child is in elementary school and keeps forgetting the same things, type up a "to do" list and tape it to their desk. When one of our sons was in fourth grade, the teacher had encouraged her children children to do this - not just ADHD kids. I saw 'how to label a paper', 'what to pack for home', 'what to unpack in the morning', and 'before I speak'. (I'm not saying whose that was!) It's a life skill to make lists, so all children should learn how.

If in the chaos of changing classes, your middle schooler can't remember what's needed for each class, here's a hint for you. It was sent in by Barbara. "My eleven year old son…just started middle school. Everyday he leaves with an index card in his back pocket. On the index card is his schedule for that particular day. We list the subjects in order along with the classroom locations. He is allowed two locker stops during the day and one at the end of the day. On the index card we note the times for locker stops with a bold black line. Then he knows which books to take with him to classes, until the next locker stop. Otherwise he would probably carry all of his books with him, all day long, for fear he would forget something. It works for us!"

Get your children in the habit of saying positive things. One family I know has a "best thing" time each night at dinner. Each member of the family - even the teenagers! - tells the most positive thing that happened to them that day. Another encouraging exercise is to go around the table and have each person say something positive about the other family members. Of course, our oldest son's favorite compliment used to be, "He's got an awesome big brother." Ron turned 23 yesterday. He'd probably say the same thing if we did this tonight. :)

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What They Need To Know

Our school recently sent home an email asking parents to list the skills that were important for a child to know before graduating from high school - and not just academic things. Among other things, I listed: balancing a checkbook, changing a diaper, basic car/home maintenance, filling out a tax return. I started early teaching my boys life skills. At age three, they could make a sandwich. At five, they could use the stove - with supervision. When they were in 5th grade, they were introduced to the iron without supervision. My husband has taught our boys how to change the oil and jumpstart a car. He's helped them to replace a plug and install a smoke detector. And yesterday, I kid you not, he spent about 15 minutes talking one of our boys through how to change a lightbulb...Actually, it was a turning signal bulb that was stuck. It broke while our boy was trying to unscrew it, and then it broke.

What do you think? Beyond Algebra and the Electoral College, what life skills are you teaching your children? I'll be posting reader responses on Monday.


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