Kaizen Parents – GTD Kids
23 January 2009 15 Comments
| 7:00 in the morning. You are late to work but your kids make it even harder – the room is messy, the toothpaste is all over, the food is no tasty, and getting dressed is mission impossible. Sounds familiar? If you are a parent I am sure you go through it each morning. How do you “solve” it? |
 by sendung |
How do you get your kids ready in the morning without influence by authority?
I seem to solve this one – I apply the same technique that gets me results, Kaizen’s “Straighten” rule. Buy yourself a white board, hang it on the door and write checklists for your kids. It’s a game they will love a lot. You will love it too.
Checklists For Grade 4 Kids
What does your kid need to do in the morning? Write it on the white board and let her put checkmarks next to it. You will be amazed how everything gets done in minutes. Here is the checklist for my Grade 4 daughter:
- Cover my bed.
- Brush my teeth.
- Get dressed.
- Finish my breakfast.
- Prepare my backpack.
- Calm my hair.
- Kiss my daddy.
She is eager to put V next to each action item. It’s a game for her so she enjoys it. What do you think what it does to me? 
Checklists For Toddlers
My other daughter does not know how to read yet, she is four years old. No checklists? Of course she has it too:
Can you walk through this one? She can. And she does it with pleasure.
“Discipline doesn’t break a child’s spirit half as often as the lack of it breaks a parent’s heart“
Practice This – Get Results
- Write on white board – share your wants with your kids visually.
- Let your kid put a checkmark herself – it is a game. Kids love games, did you know that?
- Reward your kid for tasks being completed – grow her self esteem.
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Hi Alik
I am a person of check list, so I love your idea of check list. I am a new parent myself, so thanks for the great tips.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than NO Action
Giovanna,
Great to hear the idea is helpful!
It worked for me perfectly so I made it daily practice/action
Checklist take the stress out and burn good habits in.
What’s cool is if the checklists aren’t getting the right results, you can change them. At least you have a baseline.
JD,
Burning good habits in my kids is all i am after.
What’s interesting is that it burns good habits in me too.
There are members of my family who didn’t listen to my warnings–not to mention the li’l rascals running wild through stores & screamin’ demons in restaurants. At the risk of sounding like Clint Eastwood’s crotchety character in Gran Torino, what’s the matter with kids nowadays?
It’s not the kids, it’s the parents.
As my sister’s three children grew up without the guidance & discipline they needed, I warned her for years that she was setting the stage for pain & heartbreak. I knew her ubiquitous reply was a flawed excuse, “You don’t know what it’s like because you don’t have kids”. Without boring you, let’s just say that my avuncular efforts to be fair, set boundaries, & establish accountabilities didn’t have the support of sis & her hubby. So now, as predicted, they’re in pain & heartbroken.
You provide a practical mechanism which resonates with me, Alik. Habits such as you have established with your children will very likely produce responsible, productive adults. You’re laying a firm foundation for success in life.
I’m bookmarking this & forwarding it to all parents I know with young children. I want to print hundreds of copies to carry with me & hand out. Those screamin’ demons I mentioned earlier? Their parents need you!
Jimmy,
That is very encouraging feedback – thanks!!
I wish it’d be that simple w/kids. The best thing to do I think is set them as THE highest priority and focus on THEM. The rest, career, leisure, etc – only to support the highest priority – kids and family.
Most of the time I fail to get things done kids like in this case, but what’s important is that i am aware of it and the only one to get educated is me. I have one rule that works always though (adopted from john wooden) – Love Is The Most Powerful Four-Letter Word
Thanks again for kind word, partner!
I use checklists all the time – especially for managing my blogs and my business. I love the idea of using checklists for kids – especially the toddler checklist. I don’t have kids but I’ll share this idea with friends and family who have small children. Thanks!
Melissa,
Great to hear the idea of checklists for toddlers was helpful.
Would really love to hear what your friends think about it
Great idea with the checklist!! I like your chalkboard for your 4 year old!
I’m in the midst of drawing up one, now that the new year has started and a new schedule needs to be in place. Having checklists allow my kids to know what is expected of them.
Evelyn,
Good to hear the idea is helpful!
Checklists served me very well. Why not applying same technique to kids too – It seems to work for them too.
This is a fabulous list. It is straightforward and simple. Reminds me of a chat I had with a grade six teacher. She explained how it is amazing how children change over the years she has been in her profession. Many children are not given similar responsibilities to those she had as a child and she finds their discipline and attention levels vary a lot. If children were given lists like the one you mention, from a young age, the kids would grow up with a different sense of organisation, respect and discipline than they seem to do these days.
Liara,
This is just great!
I applied the technique only because it worked for me.
Now, it is super encouraging to hear that professional teachers apply it to with great results.
Very encouraging – thanks for sharing this!
Hi Alik – I’m a big list maker and love checking things off of my lists. In fact, if I do something that’s not on my list, I’ll add it, so I can check it off. LOL.
I love the idea of having check lists for kids. Ours are all grown, but I know this would work great for the grandkids. Thank you for the great idea.
Barbara,
Listen to this…. I woke up this morning and found out that my grade 4 daughter left a piece of paper on the table. I approached it and … that was her personal checklist for the morning.
Then I was observing her rushing back and forth checking her checklist. It’s been pleasure to see that. GTD for kids in action!
Amazing – it just works for kids. It sure does for adults too
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