Raise your hand if…
- Your kids ever forget something they need for school
- Your kids forget what they were doing
- Your kids start many different tasks, but finish none
- Your kids are slow moving and freak out when it’s time to leave but they aren’t quite ready.
Does this describe any of you?
Well, let me tell you, our mornings are ALL of that! I’ve given them a to do list, we’ve made up fun songs about our morning routine, and we even get stuff ready the night before.
But for some reason, we STILL STRUGGLE TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!
I found the answer!!! And I’m here to help!
Executive Function Skills
I know, I know, what is that right? Click here to read my previous post about this. Once you understand it, it really does make sense!
Executive Function Skills are the skills used to plan, organize, manage, think, act, do, and control your emotions and impulses!
AND THESE SKILLS DON’T FULLY DEVELOP UNTIL YOUR WELL INTO YOUR 20’S
My kids and I have always struggled getting out of the house with everything that everyone needs. And I know that I’m not the only one!
I get lunches packed the night before, lay out clothes for the next day, get backpacks loaded and ready, and STILL…WE CAN’T GET OUT OF THE HOUSE WITHOUT A STRUGGLE OR FORGETTING SOMETHING.
Did you make your bed?
Did you brush your hair?
Did you put away the milk?
Did you get your lunch?
Did you…?
Did you…?
Did you…?
WHO ELSE IS TIRED OF THE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS???
Are you ready for the BIG SECRET?
If we help our kids develop their Executive Function Skills, we will not always have to do all of the work for them…
We will not have to be the one giving them the prompts and reminding them of what to do…
In fact…WE CAN do this by teaching our kids how to visualize the end result, work backwards to prepare themself for everything that it takes to get ready in the morning, and get out of the house with everything they need.
Here is an example…
When I know that I have to go grocery shopping and be back home by 3:00. I work backwards…I picture myself at home at 3:00 with groceries put away. It takes 10 min to put away the groceries, 10 minutes to drive home from the store, 30 minutes to do the shopping, and 10 minutes to drive to the store. That is 1 hour. I want to give myself some extra time just in case the shopping takes longer than expected…so I decide to leave at 1:30 giving myself 1 1/2 hours to get the job done before 3:00.
Who else does this???
Well guess what? Our kids can’t!
You see, it requires Executive Function Skills to plan, initiate, and execute tasks. Young children do not have these skills fully developed so they are not mentally capable of visualizing that far into the future. They also cannot estimate how time passes. They simply cannot picture an end result and work backward, calculate time, and organize all that needs to happen in order to initiate and see the task through.
The good news is…WE CAN TRAIN THEM!
Sarah Ward is an amazing SLP that created a process called, Get Ready, Do, Done. You can check her out here. She has many different tools and strategies to help develop executive function skills. Many teachers and parents have taken her strategy and used it to meet their own children’s needs.
I stumbled across this video and it helped me to understand how I could use it at home to help with our Morning Routine. Check out the video!
This strategy helps take your child through the process backwards in order to plan, initiate, and execute a task. Well…here is the great news: I created it for our morning routine, and gave it a try…and guess what???
IT WORKED!!!
This system will train your kids brain to visualize the end result and make a plan to get the task done!
Our kids can learn to do this mentally when we take the time to physically walk them through the process of planning, initiating, and completing a task.
You see…it’s much more than a checklist! It’s learning to visualize the future product and feel the amount of time and materials needed to complete the task. It’s learning to organize the order in which the tasks can be completed, and actually execute it to completion!
Here is how we did it at our house!
I simply laminated a 4×6 piece of yellow, green, and red paper. I labeled each color and got started! You can grab your own copy here for free or create your own!
Step 1
Snap a picture of what the task looks like when it’s done. In this example, the task was getting ready for school. I snapped a picture of my daughter one morning when she was all ready to head downstairs for breakfast! We simply taped that picture to the Done Box (red).
Step 2
Step 3
Hang it on the wall and let your sweet kiddo gain some independence while planning, starting, and seeing a task get accomplished!
Our goal is to create independent thinkers, planners, and doers! When we take the time early on to train our brain to work this way, our kids will eventually be able to do this mentally on their own.
I would love to see how you all used this strategy! Please share your ideas in the comment section below!
Enjoy Being Their Difference!
Thank you for offering another way to work through the morning routine. While my kids are 1 and 3 it’s already a struggle to get out of the house for daycare. Looking forward to school I want to start developing healthy habits now for me and them. Like you said all the pre preping the night before helps to an extent but it’s just not enough. Great read!
Melissa, this has always been a struggle for my kids. It wasn’t until I realized that young children are just not capable of envisioning the end result and understanding how time passes. Timers, to do lists, anything helps! Starting our day with no tears is always my goal…lol! From one mom to another, We got This!
This is great-I definitely struggle each morning with the kids and getting ready. Clearly, it is not just me, haha!
I am going to try this approach and see how it goes!
Oh my goodness, how I needed this. I have 8 year old twins and we struggle every morning but now it finally makes sense. They can’t function like I do. Interesting stuff and I am absolutely going to start using this process to make our mornings easier. Thank you for your insight!
I love get ready, do, done. We use it all the time in the classroom! I should use this in my home with my youngest, he’d probably love it. Great blog, thank you for sharing!
I used it in my classroom too during writer’s workshop! What grade or subject do you teach? I’m sure you son will love it. My daughter is 8 and she uses it every morning!
It’s amazing and totally works! I’m trying to help teacher’s learn how to implement it into their classrooms. If we train our kids to plan this way, they will eventually do in on their own mentally! My goal is to develop independent planners, thinkers, and doers!
Thanks! It was a great find and I just had to share! I’d love to hear how it works. If you have any other questions let me know!
Thank you for sharing this information. I am glad I am not the only mom who struggles with morning routines. I feel like I just end up nagging and they tune out my voice. This is a fun ‘game’ and independent way to teach kids the morning routine.
Get Ready, Do, Done, has helped my daughter so much in the past 2 years. She is so much more independent because we took the time to walk through the process… Another example of how slowing down to frontload, will get better results in the end!