He was leaving dirty clothes everywhere, forgetting to bring his lunchbox and water bottles in from the car, he was getting to bed too late, running late for places he needed to be, and having to be reminded tons of times about basic tasks.
So, this weekend we created a checklist of all the things he needs to do after school, including tasks for before his swim practice and tasks for after. All tasks have an end time. And we even agreed on some consequences should he not have the tasks completed on time, some privileges he'd loose.
It's only been 2 days, so I'm totally asking for a fall by saying this, but so far, it's WORKING!!
He is like a new kid! A new focused kid who can accomplish many tasks efficiently. I'm not having to go behind him and do all the things he should be doing for himself! And (this part is really huge) I'm not having to remind him of anything!
Some tasks take seconds, like lunchbox by sink or agenda signed, and some take longer like homework done. But even he has been amazed at how quickly he can get through the list when he focuses on getting it done!
Oh and he's already figured out a quick way to eliminate a task. He used to shower after swimming in the master bathroom and would leave it a mess with a wet swimsuit, towel, clothes on the floor, and his watch on the counter. My husband and I got tired of wading through the mess all evening after our son had gone to bed and we faced the choice of waking him up to clean it or clean it up ourselves. So, the task of "Mommy and Daddy's bathroom picked up" went on the list for sure. But, guess what? Since the checklist, he's gone back to showering in the kid bathroom -- hooray!
I laminated it so he could use a dry erase marker to check off tasks.
So far, this checklist works for me!!
Find more Works for Me Wednesday here.
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