Moms Q & A: Getting Kids Organized

 Jennifer Dreisacker is the mother of four children. She has struggled with organization all of her life, and with four children, she is sometimes overwhelmed. “Just finding a matching pair of socks makes it a good day. I have never been organized, and I have people who come in to help me. They try to teach me how to learn how to be organized, but it's hard to learn new habits. I wish I had been raised with those skills. It's my number one goal in life.”

 For many, organization is a tremendous challenge, and the earlier a child learns organization skills, the easier his entire school life, and beyond, will be. Parents who are lucky enough to have mastered organization have offered some tips.

 Maria Page spoke in the parking lot of the Park Avenue School after dropping off her son. She said, “I have a system that when he comes home, the first thing he has to do is show me what is in his folder. They give folders in school now, which is great because his backpack used to be a mess of papers. We go over his homework, sign any papers he has, and then everything goes back in the backpack.”

 As team mom of the Trojan Football team, Dayna Brown is used to having chaos in her car. “My car is always loaded with football gear.”

 At home, though, Brown has a better handle on things. “The rule is, Come home, have a snack, and do the homework. And I check the homework. When they finish the homework, it goes right in the back pack and the back pack goes by the door.”

 Another bit of counsel from organized moms is Do It Now. “Don't procrastinate, get it done. The summer reading assignments, taking a shower before school. Don't procrastinate. Shower the night before. You'll have more free time, and more sleep,” Brown said.

 For Melanie Scherer, another Park Avenue School mother, learning organization was something she had to learn when she entered the workplace. “I was not organized growing up, but I learned that if you can't find things, and you don't know where you put them, you can't get anything done.”

 Danbury High School ninth grade guidance counselor Betsy Petrone offers these ideas and suggestions for parents. “Keep on top of your kids. We want them to be independent, but even in ninth grade they still need our support. The schools hand out planners, make sure your children use them, and check them. You can also email your child's teacher once a week to make sure assignments are being handed in. A lot of times, kids will write some of the assignment, but leave some of it out.”

 “Parents can help kids become organized and say to them, Let me see how you are doing something. Some kids don't know here to begin.”

 “Students should organizanize their binder at least once a week. Get them to use sticky notes and highlighters with note taking. There is nothing worse than seeing papers stuffed into binders.” 

Teachers hand out papers that students may need to refer to later of for studying or for tests. If they are stuffed in binders or if they get lost or are ruined, your child may not know they are missing until the very moment they need it. Having papers organized and filed at least weekly allows your child some peace of mind.

 “I'm not saying to be a pain in the butt about it, but offer support,” said Petrone. “Ninth grade is the biggest school adjustment kids have to make. Parents think it is the student's responsibility, but kids really need a lot of help.”

 Students recommend using different color one inch notebooks for each subject, creating ease of identifying which notebook is used for each class. One inch notebooks are much less unwieldy to manage in the classrooms. For high schoolers, this helps to quickly identify what will be needed for the next class or the next day. Smaller binders keep papers and handouts separate from other subjects, and all in one place.

 In the ninth grade Guidance Office, there is a poster on the wall that makes suggestions for better study habits:

 Don't forget to date all work, which will also help with identifying papers for test study

 Review all class notes for 5-10 minutes every evening. Create flash cards. Rewrite important notes to make them clearly understood later on.

 My own personal favorite, leave enough time. Hurrying is an obstacle to organization. The more time you and your child can take to prepare, the more organized the effort to prepare will be.