Teaching Children about Time

In his book, A Moment’s Pause, author, Spence Kinard observed: “Our children- how fast they grow, how soon the time is gone. From seedlings to sunflowers, almost overnight: the little girl with pigtails bouncing across her back as she races across the lawn in search of dandelions and other priceless treasures is soon the adolescent, in search of other treasures- of boys, of close friends, and most of all, of self. And the little boy, with a butch haircut, in muddy, worn-out tennis shoes, is soon the teenager- still chasing, but now it’s girls, and cars, and most of all himself. Childhood. So much to learn, so little time to do it. But time enough, if the present moment is captured if the day with our children is not allowed to slip away, if we hold as tightly as we can to each second, each minute, each hour with our children.” Daily activities can help teach your child about the importance of time.

Consider the following time management activities:

First, teaching your child with short-term projections. Mary Rice, author of Help Me Learn concluded: “Toddlers can be very adamant about theregularity of their rituals- as though they are trying to get a fix on time as part of their rituals- as though they are trying to get a fix on time as part of their growing up. For the toddler, waiting for his lunch is about as far as he can go into the future. You can begin to tell him such things as, ‘We’ll go see the ducks this afternoon,’ and he will gradually begin to connect ‘afternoon’ with after his lunch and before his dinner. Such short-term well-defined projections will help your child hang his idea of time on fixed familiar hours in his day.”

Second, trying some time management activities with your child.

Dorothy Rich, author of What Do We Say? What Do We Do? observed: “Just as adults need time management help, so do children. They need common-sense practice in organizing their time so that there is time for what has to get done: the school assignments, the extracurriculars, and the free time that kids need for dreaming and growing. Figuring out how we spend our time helps us know how to change what we are currently doing, even for children. Parents and children can try this:

• draw two clock faces or put numbers 1-24 on two ordinary sheets of paper. Use one sheet to draw in time for a typical day. How much time for sleeping? Eating? Work? TV? Homework? Sports? Telephone? etc.
• ask: Are we spending the right amount of time on the different things that need to be done, things that we care about?
• use the other clock face to fill in the changes you are recommending for yourselves. Sleeping and eating are necessities, but TV watching may go down and book reading may go up.”

Third, put time in kids’ terms. Young children have so little sense of time that they need activities they can readily understand. Try placing time frames with activities and routines she knows well. For example, you tell her, ‘Grandma is coming to visit in two sleeps,’ instead of ‘Grandma is coming on Saturday.’

According to Dorothy Rich, author of Megaskills: “Both children and adults need time for looking at clouds, for taking a bubble bath, for playing with a pet, for sitting with each other, even when we are not talking. This is time for what used to be called smelling the roses.” Take some time this week to enjoy Florida’s great outdoors.