Archive for Teenagers

Unplug for the Holiday Season

Posted by Carolyn on

November 17, 2010

I recently had an opportunity to appear on Breakfast Television (checkout photo #16) speaking on unplugging kids after the summer. Many parents are increasingly aware of the amount of screen time their children have over the course of a day. Think about it: TV, computer (in school, at home), IPOD, cell phone. Add in there a movie or attempts to look up a reference at the library and a modern teenager could easily rack up over 6 hours of screen time without even trying (2 hours TV, 2 hours homework, 1 hour total IPOD, 1 hour total cell phone). Considering the kids are only awake for 16 – 18 hours and are in school for 6.5 hours, that’s a big chunk of their day.

Here are a couple of tips to get you started thinking about how to help your teenager control their screen time:

As unpopular as it seems, turn off the email alerts and FB or other social media while they are doing homework. Multitasking has been shown not to be effective and it will take them longer to get the homework done (more screen time). Instead, encourage your teen to take regular breaks when they can check in on the pack.
Insist that your teen take their cell phone out of their room at night and plug it in to charge elsewhere in the house. This strategy is also helpful to get them up in the morning since that phone will give a snapshot of the pack status for the day as soon as they check their texts/BBM or whatever.
If it isn’t already, consider moving your family computer to a public place. The worst place for a teen to use a computer is in their room. They will stay up until all hours. This is not a life skill worth learning.
Help your younger teens book physical activity during the week that requires a disconnect from a screen. Clearly this type of direction gets harder as the kids get older but once the pattern is set, and they have a habit of regular activity, they have learned a life skill that is worth hanging on to.

Home Organizing Organizing Students

Tags : Children, Teenagers, Unplug

Memories can be beautiful, and then…

Posted by Carolyn on

July 22, 2010

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Like so many of us, I have increasing problems with memory these days. I like to blame it on the heat, the fact I have a busy family or that my business as a professional organizer is growing and I too much to keep track of. The fact that I am of a certain age is of course not relevant!

Here’s a tip to help you remember a myriad of items: use the memo pad or notes function on your phone to keep track of miscellaneous details. My teenage daughter uses it to keep track of her locker combinations. One friend uses it to keep track of notes to himself.

As long as you can remember to check your memos you don’t need to rely so heavily on that overtaxed and again memory.

Organizing Strategies

Tags : Lists, memory, phone, Teenagers

Car Crazies

Posted by Carolyn on

May 31, 2010

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It’s that time of year again: holiday trips, cottage weekends, camping excursions. They all involve loading the gear, the kids and sometimes the dog/cat/hamster/fish into the family car and heading off down the highway. Here are a couple of tips to keep all that stuff organized so you can relax, enjoy the view and arrive ready for your time away.

Take only what you need, clear out the rest – Before you pack the car, clear out all the debris that you don’t need for the trip. You’ll have more space for yourself and your family, more room for your holiday/weekend gear and less clutter to manage.
Contain, contain, contain – Try and get everything into a container whether it is a bag or box. Try a laundry hamper for last minute items. It is also great for bathing suits and towels. You can even bring them back wet in the hamper after your last dip in the lake.
Give the kids a container – Assign each child a container for their car entertainment such as books, electronics, games and snack if you permit eating in your car. It will help keep the bits together so you are less likely to hear ‘Where are my earphones?” when you get to your destination. A container that closes is even better – kids aren’t so careful when tossing things around the car and again, bits are less likely to get lost or broken.
Mom’s/Dad’s bag – If you have small children who are not yet happy to sit plugged into their electronics for hours on end, consider sticking a couple of special activity treats into your own bag. You will be the hero when you pull out the special glittery markers halfway into your trip.
Pack Snacks – Unless you and your children get car sick, you are likely going to need some food and/or drink before your trip is over. Food can be expensive on the road. While your vacation food may be packed into the cooler in the back of your vehicle, consider packing a smaller day cooler which can be easily accessed by your or your children. Drinks in containers that won’t spill, fruit, dried fruit and nuts all make great travel snack.

Buckle up, stay safe and have fun!

Organizing Travel

Tags : Car, Children, family trip, Teenagers, Travel

First Term – Out

Posted by Carolyn on

February 5, 2009

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Has your high school student just finished first term? Is his/her home workspace cluttered with the remnants of first term study?

Do everyone a favour, especially your student, and help them purge out the first term to make room for second term. The longer you leave the remnant clutter hanging around, the less likely it is to be sorted and purged before chaos sets in. Help your student sort through the notes for relevant material to keep such as key assignments and throw out the rest.

Helping students purge on a timely basis helps them learn sorting and prioritizing skills for their “office” before material becomes clutter. In addition, you will be teaching them the value of a clear, uncluttered space. They will be able to focus on the task at hand (second term’s material).

You’ll both feel better.

Organizing Students

Tags : purging, school work, Students, Teenagers

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – Exam Time!

Posted by Carolyn on

January 13, 2009

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Here is comes folks. All us semestered families are heading for the last stretch of the semester and the big E word: Exams.

For some teenagers exams are just another opportunity to show off how much they know and how much fun they had studying. Not my teenager. She is having fun alright: at the swim meet, the ski hills and movie nights at a friend’s house. So how do we instill the discipline to study and review all that must know information in order to encourage the best opportunity for success in our teens?

Here are some tips for your teen to set themselves up for success:

Step 1 – Establish a list of all the material that will be covered in the exam. If you aren’t sure, check in with the teachers before the term is over. Once classes are out they are harder to find. Most curriculum is broken into units providing a natural way to organize and list the material. A term is likely about 10 – 13 units. Review the list and your notes. Do you have all the information you need to study? Do you need to pick up notes from a friend or teacher for classes you missed?

Step 2 – Break down the material into the time you have to review it. If you have 5 days to study for 4 exams and 4 hours a day, you may choose to use one hour a day per subject. For ten units that would be 2 units per day. Did I loose you on the math? Simplify: Break down the material into bite size chunks for which you have the time.

Step 3 – Remove all other distractions (cell phone, ipod), be rested, well fed and take frequent breaks. Most adults can concentrate for about 45 minutes. Expect your teen to get up and move at least every 45 minutes.

Step 4 – Review, repeat. Review, repeat. Familiarity will assist with recall.

Good luck!

Organizing Students

Tags : Students, Teenagers, Time Management

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – The Agenda

Posted by Carolyn on

November 19, 2008

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When I was a student, no one carried an agenda. When I entered the business world, everyone carried a day planner. Nowadays, many school boards create day planners or agendas for the students in their schools. Many day planner publishing companies provide planners targeted specifically for students.

Trying to get a student to use a day planner is a much harder task than just finding one to use. If, however, a student can learn to use the tool on a regular basis they will also learn it is a powerful tool to stay organized and give their brain a break from having to keep a lot of schedule and due date information. Here’s some tips to help get your student on top of their agenda:

Have the student enter into the day planner all the regular activities in their week such as hockey practice, soccer, dance or band practice.
Have them enter in all the irregular schedule items such as holidays, band concerts or vacations. Most of these items are booked many months in advance and are available from the program organizer.
Encourage them to write in all their friends’ and family members’ birthdays. Why? Often there will be parties booked around these dates and with the dates booked in the agenda a student can anticipate a gathering of friends or family around the birthday date. With the heads up on their agenda, they can also budget their funds if they wish to go out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Encourage them to keep the agenda with them in their back pack or hand bag at all times. Then it will be available for reference when the opportunity to babysit comes up or when a party invitation arrives.

Organizing Students

Tags : day planners, planners, Students, Teenagers, Time Management

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – 2 Planning & Anticipation

Posted by Carolyn on

September 23, 2008

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Just like the rest of us teenagers need to be able to anticipate the next step in theirs lives if they are expected to be prepared.

Avoid changing plans too quickly without giving your teenager time to shift gears. Help them use their agenda, day planner to other organizer to keep track of their upcoming activities, obligations and events. If you have to change/make new family plans, try and give them warning and give them the courtesy of asking what impact these changes/plans will have on their existing schedule.

This approach will assist your teen in learning to anticipate, plan and be prepare for whatever is coming down the pipe.

Organizing Students

Tags : Students, Teenagers, Time Management

The (dis) Organized Teenager 1 – Is There Hope?

Posted by Carolyn on

December 12, 2007

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Next to “what do I do with all the paper?” the question “what do I do with my teenager?” is one of the most frequent questions I am asked as a professional organizer. When I dig deeper for information, most of you are concerned about 1) their bedroom which often looks like a cyclone went through and 2) their school desk/locker which looks like the cyclone dumped everything there.

Why are the teenagers so messy? Why are they so disorganized? What am I, as a parent, going to do about it?

Great questions.

Teenagers have a lot of “stuff” going on in their minds, which means they may be too distracted and preoccupied to worry about the “stuff” on the floor of their room. Keeping track of the relationship with and between friends, who is wearing what, who is talking to whom – or not – is a lot for a preteen and teenager to be thinking about. When you consider how quickly this social scene can change when you are between the ages of 12 and 19, especially the 12 to 14 year olds, their brains are on fast forward just keeping up with social dynamics.

Now add issues around school work and assignments, part time jobs and any other sports or activities they might be engaged in. We aren’t done yet; now add in the physical growth challenges like how to use arms and legs that grew (apparently) overnight, brains that are just plain tired from growing. Finally, to top it all off, the oversupply of (feels like new) hormones with attached emotional ups and downs, and – well – whether or not the laundry is in the hamper pales in significance by comparison. Can you blame them?

There is hope. The frontal lobe development occurs in the teenage years and with it the executive control that is housed there.

What can you do? Children tend to learn their organization skills from their parents. If you send out the message from your own state of organization (what does your desk look like?) that organization is not a priority, they will follow your step. Allowing them to leave the laundry on the floor until it stands itself up in the corner is sending the message that dirty laundry on the floor is ok.

We all know as parents – in case you wondered, yes, I have a teenage daughter – that we have to pick our battles. Organization is no different. I will leave you with this thought and homework: What message are you sending to your teenager about organization? Does everything have to be perfect? Is mess and disorganization ok as long as no one sees it? Is there a level of organization that is required, or desired, in order to meet our obligations at whatever stage of life we are in?

Think about it.

Home Organizing

Tags : Children, Parenting, Priorities, Teenagers, Toss and Drop

Anticipation – The Greatest Time Management Tool

Posted by Carolyn on

December 4, 2007

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When it comes to time management, there is nothing more valuable than the ability to anticipate an event or events. Isn’t that what our organizers, calendars, day timers, and PDA’s are all about. The multi million dollar industry of calendars is based on the notion that we like to anticipate what is coming in our lives. With anticipation comes the ability to schedule both our time and our resources – like the car for example. When you look to next Tuesday and see that you have four family members going in four different directions at the same time by 4:30 in the afternoon, having a whole week to work on those back up resources like a car pool is very, very helpful.

Children learn to anticipate at a very young age – does birthday party excitement for a whole week sound familiar to you? Young students are now learning in school to use their school issue “agenda” to record their homework.

By the time the kids hit their teens, they have learned to anticipate excitement, record their homework and use their lockers. Unfortunately as adults, we don’t teach them the time planning that goes along with being able to anticipate events. Even as a professional organizer, I have been slow to teach my own teenager how to use her time wisely. Here’s the process that I went through with her to get her back on track with time. It’s a relatively easy organizing task and they will thank you for the time management skill later in life.

1. Find a calendar that works for you: electronic, PDA, puppy dogs, whatever. The size, style and platform are really only relevant in terms of what works and what looks good.

2. Enter in all the fixed dates over which you have no control: music lessons, swim practice, band practice, year book committee etc. Put them in for the whole term or year until the known completion date.

3. Enter in all the regularly scheduled flexible time such as piano/instrumental/voice practicing time. If it is scheduled, the intention moves from a 1 (would like to do) to an 8 (really intend to do) and has half a chance to get to 10 (will absolutely make sure this happens) at which point after 28 days it becomes a habit.

4. Enter into the calendar the activities that lead to what you would like to accomplish by year’s, month’s, week’s, day’s end e.g. On Saturday afternoons I will go to the library so that I have books for my English class on Monday.

Have fun anticipating your wonderful life!

Office Organizing Organizing Time

Tags : calendars, Planning, Students, Teenagers, Time Management

Locker Lists

Posted by Carolyn on

November 20, 2007

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Teenagers are perhaps some of the most preoccupied members of our society. While their minds are tackling social spider webs and academic balancing acts, their cell phones, books, papers, saxophone mouthpieces and gym wear often get left behind. With luck, they end up aging in the locker. Less fortunate are those teens who leave articles on buses, chairs, in the library or who knows where and end up spending their part-time job savings to replace them.

Try a Locker List. Develop a list of items that routinely go to and from school. Organize your list by day of the week. Build it to fit on the inside of the locker door. Have it laminated and have your teenager post it on the inside of his/her locker. I recommend getting your teen to build the list and decorate it before you laminate it. It has to be catchy enough to attract their eye so they will look at the list before shutting the locker door. Here’s a sample to get you started:

Monday
To School: lunch, gym clothes, runng shoes, cell phone
Home: weekly math test for signature, instrument/mouthpiece/ music binder, cell phone,
lunch bag

Tuesday
To School: weekly math test for signature, instrument/mouthpiece/music binder
Home: cell phone gym clothes lunch bag

Wednesday
To School: rugby mouth guard, lunch, cell phone
Home: lunch bag

Organizing Students

Tags : Children, Lists, Teenagers

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