Many of our habits - good and bad, begin from a very early age. As many children have a limited social network and often receive most of their advice from their parents, a parent's involvement has a direct impact on a child's development and habits. One skill that seems to pass its way down through families is the concept of time management (or lack thereof).

How many of us have dragged our children from bed, only to find it difficult for ourselves to wake up for Saturday morning activities? How many times have you chastised a dawdling daughter? How often does your son forget his appointments - and how often do you forget your own?

It's easy to see a correlation between disorganized parents and disorganized kids, so what do you need to do in order to promote a healthy style of time management in your children?

1. Start Closer to Home.
The best way to start you child with good time management is to foster positive patterns yourself. Begin with an honest evaluation of your own time management skills - how often are you late for appointments, or do you forget appointments entirely? Do you procrastinate important tasks? Are you falling behind at work or in your social life? Look at your own habits, as your child will often model their behaviour on your own.

2. Clean Up Your Habits.
For your entire family's benefit, stop making excuses for poor time management skills. Educate yourself on methods to maximize your productivity and be strict when you find yourself ignoring any patterns of behaviour that lead to a negative habit. Be diligent with yourself first and clean up your own messy time management skills prior to evaluating your child.

3. Organize.
Create systems that help to plan and organize your family's time. One system that has proven particularly effective is to create a large calendar that is accessible to each member of your family for the purpose of writing down appointments, responsibilities, tasks and obligations. If each family member is assigned a specific colour of pen/marker, you will be able to spot-check any new appointments as they occur.

4. Eliminate Excuses.
Many people are inefficient because there are easier options available that cater to a lazy or convenient response. For example, your child might be late for school in the morning because she is unable to find her school supplies and she lost one of her shoes. If you eliminate this reason for being disorganized, you will encourage your child to be better prepared and help her to save precious time. Work with your daughter to prepare her school supplies the night before and put all of her belongings in the same place every day.

A well-organized child will be easier to work with and will have more time to focus on important areas of his or her life like school or social development. In teaching by example and running a well-planned household, you will encourage your child to respond to life in a similar way and will help him or her better handle stressful and time-sensitive situations. The earlier you begin to form positive habits, the better you will prepare your child for a full and productive life.

Learn more about this author, Kalyn Cybulski.
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