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On Time timer
Back to school means back to routines. For many children (and parents) this can be a challenge. Children can be very resistant when it comes to certain routines. In my house, my 4 year old has the hardest time with her bedtime routine. She loves to try to extend her day beyond her bedtime. To accomplish this she does everything other than the tasks at hand.
With this in mind, I was excited to try out a visual timer called On-Task On-Time for Kids. This system was developed by Moschel Kadokura, a mother of 4 children (three being triplets). Kadokura wanted to remove herself from the reminding and nagging role and teach her children self-reliance. This was the reason she developed On-Time On-Task.
The system comes with a timing mechanism that has a dry-erase feature on it, 2 dry-erase markers, 3 discs that can be used for 3 different routines, 52 gender specific task stickers (some are blank) and a wall hanger. The timer is a 60 minute timer and each one of the routine discs is divided into 60 sections (one for each minute of the routine). There is also a chart on the back of the timing device that can be used to record success.
The suggestion is to involve your child in setting up the routines which gives them some ownership of the tool. My daughter and I chose all of the stickers that make up her nightly routine (including bath, getting dresses, brushing teeth, etc.). Once the stickers had been chosen, I attached them to one of the discs and placed the disc on the timer. I turned the knob to the first task and my daughter was off (quickly focused on the first task). After she had completed the first task, she ran back to check the timer and quickly moved onto the next task. She was determined to "beat the clock" and wanted to show me that she could get everything done before her time was up. When the timer rang an hour later we were actually heading to bed for tuck-in time. Besides being frightened by the timer (which is a bit loud) my daughter was excited that she had accomplished all of her nightly tasks.
I think the On-Time On-Task system is a great way to help children have an understanding of how much time a variety of tasks should take. The only issue I had with the timer was trying to determine how much time to allot for "story time" because it really depends on the length of the two books that my daughter chooses. To handle this issue, sometimes I will wind the timer back a little to give myself more time to read.
For the reasonable price of $49.95, this tool will give parents peace and help children develop independence. If you'd like more information about On-Task On-Time or to order one for your child, visit http://www.timelymatters.com
