Organising For Your Children

A lot of people ask me "Do you organise your children?".  And I answer, "No. I show them ways to be organised."

From a young age, they had chore charts, weekly homework lists and schedules.  As their mother, I truly had to stay on top of them to follow the chart or pick up their toys and supplies when they were done.   From the beginning, the biggest thing I did was to communicate that when we all work together or have a place for everything we have more time together as a family. This tactic seemed to help and set the groundwork for more detailed organisation such as classwork, project due dates and sports schedules. But nothing is perfect. Each child faces organising troubles from time to time. And we just sort it out as needed. 

Half to battle is keeping up with paperwork and supplies that are needed for each activity.  I have shared before my system for classroom/team sports paperwork management.  The Clipboard System.  To review - these clipboards hold the hard copies of syllabi, team schedules, classroom management plans and contact sheets.  When I need to check for information - without scrolling through all the e-mails, or pulling it up on the school website - I can grab the original off the one of the clipboards.

Since I am on the go most of the day - keeping myself organised for the myriad of activities I face is the other half of the battle. From a very young age - I used the Boat and Tote bag from L.L. Bean.  {Raise your hand if you remember the red, blue and green ones I carried through high school!}  Well, I still carry them, along with a couple from Tory Burch.  

Here I have a shelf full of bags loaded and ready to go marked by activity.  Clipped to the front is a handy check-off list or reminder.  Since I am often so pressed for time, using this system saves me a TON of migraine headaches.  Some of the activities are daily or weekly, so if I have them loaded and ready to roll - I am usually more prepared than necessary.

 And yes. I have to remind myself to sharpen my pencils. Don't judge!