Get Proactive With Your Daily Schedule

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONMpVDUFu5c&t=13s

Settling into a new routine can be challenging at first. Here’s Napoleon, one of our HeyKiddo™ psychologists, with some tips on how to make the transition easier on your family:

TRANSCRIPTION...

Today I'm going to talk with you guys about a proactivity exercise that you can do with your kids. So, in this time, a lot of us have had our structures completely thrown to the wind, especially kids.

They have been plucked from their environment, their structure at school and are now having to spend their day at home, as are most adults.

So one of the things that we can do to combat or adapt to the change - or lack of structure - is to start proactively problem-solving and setting our schedules. 

Here's a really quick activity you can do with your kid. Super simple, all you need is some writing utensils, you can use colors, glitter, stickers if you'd like and a few sheets of paper. 

First, start by having a conversation with your child about their schedule and the things that they can proactively do beforehand to set their schedule.

You can ask your child to come up with a list of things that they'd like to accomplish or come up with a list of things that they need to do for that day. 

Start at the top of the sheet of paper. Write the day of the week and going down you can divide the sheet of paper into as many sections as you'd like.

For older kids, you might want to divide it more times. For younger kids, you. may only need a few blocks of time and within those blocks, you want to have your child set their schedule for the day.

Through that process, you can work with them to include both activities that are pleasurable and enjoyable for them. Maybe reading; maybe playing video games; maybe going for a walk.

You can help them identify the different self-care activities that will be the best for them while also encouraging them to come up with the activities that they have to complete for the day.

Maybe chores, schoolwork, whatever it might be.

The emphasis here is not to get on the perfect schedule but rather get your child thinking ahead of time.

What are the things that they can plan for and how can they structure their day best?

Through time, as they do this exercise they're gonna get really good at structuring their day to have both enjoyable, pleasurable activities and get the things done that they need to.

Try sitting down with your child and going through this quick exercise. You can do it every day you can do it once a week if you'd like.