Time management for kids

The comment I get most when I'm working with a new client on the time management side is "I can't live by a schedule because I have kids." I'm here to tell you that that's exactly WHY you should live by a schedule and have a daily rhythm in place. Kids crave structure. They won't tell you that, but they do. That's how God hardwired all of us, because kids' brains are like little sponges, childhood is the perfect time to start teaching time management skills. 

If y'all don't know me, my name is Tonya Johnson and I'm the founder of Helping Hearts Homeschool. I wanted to create a safe space for homeschool moms to come together and learn how to get a handle on their time, create financial freedom for families, and ultimately put the joy back into their homeschools. Today I want to show you how simple it is to teach basic time management principles to our kids: it's serious so simple that a 2 year old can follow along. 

Time management is kind of my thing, I completely nerd out on it, but it wasn't always that way. I grew up in a broken home with no stability. If there was a word for my life up until 16 it would be CHAOS. I won't go into all the trauma of my childhood, that's a whole other story for a whole other video, but when I was 16 I moved from New Mexico to Indiana to go to college. To say I was unprepared was the understatement of the year. 

Because I came from such a poor economic background, I had no choice but to get a full time job as soon as I got to school. I moved in the dorms and 2 days later started working 40 hours a week at a telemarketing company. Super fun job btw (insert sarcastic tone here). Now, I had been working since I was 14, but I had never worked while going to school full time. Y'all that have gone to college know that it's a lot more than simply "going to school." For someone who has 0 time management skills, this proved to be increasingly challenging. 

That first year I burned the candle at both ends and completely burnt out. I ended the year without debt and with high grades, but my social life was non existent and my mental health was awful. The second year I did the complete opposite. I only took two classes, barely passed them, hung out with friends and goofed off most of the time, not to mention, I almost got fired from my job because I called off so much. Because of that, I got my 4 year education degree in 5 years, but again, not a story for today. By the third year I had a professor that noticed my behavior wasn't exactly healthy and she started helping me set up some time management systems which proved to be invaluable and I soaked it up like a sponge. I told y'all I nerd out on this stuff. By my 5th year I had the privilege to teach a time management class to high school jrs and srs once a week and I've never shut up about time management since then. This brings me to my first tip. 

No, this doesn't mean we have to be perfect, but it does mean we have to start living by some kind of example. If I tell my kid she needs to set a timer, get her chores done in a certain time frame, and not drag her feet, but then she sees me taking an hour to put away the laundry because I'm stopping every 5 seconds to scroll tik tok, she's going to pick up on the double standard. 

It's similar to telling our kids to do their homework before watching tv, but then we binge Netflix instead of taking care of our responsibilities. We set the tone for the time management efficiency within our homes. I won't dive too deep into this because this lesson is specifically to teach KIDS about time management, but I'd highly recommend checking out the "Organize your Life" session I did a few weeks ago, It goes through the basics of organizing a household routine and then does a huge deep dive into time management and how to actually set up schedule as well. If you feel like you have 0 time management skills, that's ok, learn right along with your kids. Give them grace, give yourself grace, and most importantly, give them the tools now that will give them freedom as they start getting more and more responsibilities as they get older.

My suggestion is if you have kids who are spread out in age OR you have more then 3-4 kids is start with the youngest and work your way up. Spend a week or two focused on stage 1 with your Youngers, but let the whole family follow along. When you're ready to move your older kids to stage two, the younger ones will already have a rhythm going. I'll get more into this in the next couple of steps. 

This is how we started Glori on learning about time management when she was 2. All we did was focus on a routine or a basic rhythm. At 2 I think we had Wake up, breakfast, brush teeth, responsibilities, play time, lunch, devotions, play time, dinner, bath, bed. She always knew what was coming next. 

All we did for this was print out pictures and put them on our fridge with magnets. You can download this set here for FREE. We stayed in this stage for about 2 years. As she got a little older we added more picture cards to our day, but that was it. It gave her security in knowing what to expect, and it gave me freedom knowing when I had pockets of time I could work or get my own chores done or just have me time. It was great!

If you're new to time management and working with multiple kids, this is where you take just your older ones, 4-5 yrs old + and move them into stage two while leaving the younger ones in stage one. You're still doing the same tasks, so your older ones are still following the same pictures, but now we're adding timers. 

In stage one we focus on PROFICIENCY: teaching our kids how to complete each task to his or her highest ability and with pride. It's very important to drive this point home before moving onto stage two. The task at hand needs not only to be done, but to be done well. In stage two we focus on EFFICIENCY as well as proficiency. Always communicate with your kids as you're moving throughout the stages. Explain to them why its important using both biblical and logical reasons. 

The timer stage is a fun one because you can make it a game. "Let's see how fast we can get your room clean today! How fast do you think you can do it? 10 min? 15? Ok! Let's set a timer and see. Remember though, it has to be done well, not sloppy ok? Ready, set, go!" Never compare their times to siblings, only to themselves. Each child is going to have a pace that works for them and some children will do certain tasks quicker than others and that's ok. We stayed in this stage for about 6 months until we 100% knew how quickly our daughter could complete each task without sacrificing quality. Tip: track this using the time log included with your freebie download. 

We started this stage when Glori was between 5 and 6. Regardless of age, I wouldn't move into stage 3 until you've mastered stages 1 and 2. Your child should know how to complete each task both proficiently AND efficiently before moving into this stage and as I mentioned before, it is possible to have kids in all 4 stages at one time if your kids are spread out.  

Ex: You may have a 2 and 3 yr old both in stage 1, a 5 yr old in stage 2, a 6 and 7 yr old in stage 3 and a 10 yr old in stage 4. Because each stage just layers upon the previous one, it's not hard as long as you start with the youngest and work your way up and consistently practice discipline throughout your home. Stage 3 will work with both pictures or a written list. Because Glori was still little when we started this stage we still did pictures and just added times to them, but if your child is too old for cutesy pictures on the fridge, consider buying a special notebook just for him/her to keep their daily time slots in. 

In this stage, YOU are setting up their schedule for them, that's why we refer to it as time slots and not scheduling. You should already have a list of their tasks and approximately how long it takes to complete each one, so scheduling them will be a breeze. Now, with scheduling, you work backwards, so oldest to youngest instead of youngest to oldest. 

Here's what it looks like for us. 

I get up before Glori and schedule my day

I write out her schedule in her notebook and lay it out on the table. 

If I had kids in earlier stages I would then lay out corresponding pictures on the fridge for them. We usually follow a similar rhythm, but it's not quite as simple for an adult as it is for a toddler unfortunately. 

Stage 4 usually doesn't get introduced until ages 8-10. Stage 4 is the same as stage 3 except your child is looking at your schedule and then creating their own. This is a hands on task for a while meaning you sit with them and talk through it with them each morning. Starting out, have them do it one day a week and you do the rest. Increase it by one day at a time until they're creating their own schedule each day. I'd highly recommend watching the corresponding training video to make sure all the moving parts are in place. 

This should go without saying, but time management isn't about dragging our kids from one task to the next, it's about helping them create freedom. When they're 2, "play time" is fine to put on the schedule, as they get older, let them schedule in SPECIFIC play time (slime play, legos, painting with mom, etc.) Let them get excited to see that when they go throughout their day and complete their tasks it frees up time for all the extra fun things. 

Btw, this is the same for adults. A lot of moms look at time management either as an unattainable unicorn or as a dirty 4 letter word. It's neither! It's a tool that God gave us to maximize both our productivity and our enjoyment. For me it looks like getting to get a massage, lounge by the pool and read a book, spend an hour journaling each day, workout, anything I enjoy doing. I don't have to sacrifice having a clean house or cooking dinner for my family in order to have me time and do the things I enjoy, I just have to be responsible with my time. That's it. 

If you liked this, don't forge to check out the Organize your life and BossMom Scheduling System lessons, and until next time, this is Tonya Johnson reporting to you life from the homeschool trenches. See you next Monday!