Lessons for school aged & older.
Ph: 860-928-5105

Don’t answer every question, instead ask what do they think.
Asking questions stimulates conversation between you and your
child.

2. Don’t Criticize.

Criticism invites low self-esteem. Children feel that they have
failed or disappointed their parents when they are criticized.
Find alternate ways of correcting the problem. A child will
likely shut down communication if they feel that their parents
are not supportive.

3. Respect Your Child’s Opinions.

Your child is not an extension of you. Although it is difficult
to accept at times, it is normal and healthy for your child to
have their own opinion. Children who are confident in expressing
their opinions are less likely to join gangs or succumb to peer
pressure.

4. Teach Your Child To Embrace Diversity.

Encourage your child to learn about different cultures and
ethnicities. A well informed child can will understand and
respect other people’s values.

5. Teach Your Child To Set Personal Boundaries.

Children need to have their personal space respected in order
for them to respect other people’s personal space. Help your
child to establish their boundaries and insist that he/she
enforce them with their peers.

6. Establish A Nurturing Environment.

Children thrive in environments in which they know they are
loved and respected. Remind them every day that you love them
and support them.

7. Understand Your Child’s Thinking Process.

In order for you to be an advocate for your child in school, you
must know and understand how your child learns. Is he/she
creative, logical, musical, spatial, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, naturalistic? Know your child’s capabilities and
accept their creativity.

8. Let Them Think For Themselves.

Encourage independent thinking. Let your child decide (within
reason) what is appropriate for them. Give them enough room to
make decisions, but also be there in case their plans don’t work
out.

9. Teach Them Stress Management Skills.

Help your child to effectively deal with stress. Try not to
contribute to their stress with demands and unrealistic
expectations. Make learning fun!

10. Teach Your Child To Trust His/Her Instincts.

In order for children to be successful in life, they must learn
how to trust their decisions. Your child needs to be confident
in trusting his/her instincts and feelings. Children who trust
themselves are less likely to participate in unhealthy behaviors

About the author:
Marie Magdala Roker is a Family Coach and Certified Breakthrough
Parenting Instructor. She is completing her Masters in Health
Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She helps
parents to reclaim their lives and students to unlock their
academic potential. She is committed to helping build healthy
families, one family member at a time.

OLD FRIENDS If the child has a lot of stuffed animals that
he/she has outgrown, but just isn’t ready to part with yet? Use a
HAMMOCK or a net that hangs way up in the corner of the ceiling.
The toys can be put up there and they can still be seen but they
are out of the way.

SETTING UP CATEGORIES Kids can organize their toys by category
(cars and trucks together, dolls together, specific types of
games together, etc) in big bins or baskets. If the child can
read, LABEL the bins to help them remember which bins are for
which category. LIDS are usually too much for kids to deal with,
so get containers without lids, or store the lids elsewhere for
when the kids aren’t using the bins anymore.

GET IN THE ZONE Set up ‘zones’ in the room for DIFFERENT
ACTIVITIES; art & craft zone, reading zone, puzzle zone, and a
large play area to play with blocks and whatnot. Get the
appropriate TOOLS for each zone, such tables for the child to
work at in the art and craft zone, shelves for puzzles and games
in that zone, and a comfy chair and a bookshelf in the reading
zone.

GO UP Because kids need a good amount of floor space to play in,
use the WALL SPACE for storage. Hanging sturdy shelves or wall
bins at a height that can be reached by the kids, clear plastic
wall pockets, or stacked milk crates work well for kids to do
their own organizing. Container Store is great for shelves if
you have one in your area. Their Elfa shelving system is totally
ADJUSTABLE, so when the kids grow taller, just snap out the
shelves, and snap them in higher up on the tracks! It’s the only
shelving system I use with my clients, and I love it.

A HOME FOR EVERYTHING Teach kids the benefit of CONTAINERIZING
items by category or by the activity that required; for example,
things you build, things you read, things to draw with/on, or
toys with wheels. Teach them how organizing makes their things
easier to find. So much of what we call clutter is just stuff
that has no home, and even kids can ASSIGN homes to all their
stuff and be taught how to put things away when they’re finished.

DRESSING IN A SNAP For kids clothing, install shelving in their
closets that they can reach and use lots of hooks and HANGING
SPACE. If kids clothes are in a folded pile or in a drawer, they
are more likely to just wear what’s on top, rather than looking
through the pile, so hang as much as possible.

DISPLAYING THEIR ARTWORK Hang a clothesline along one wall of
the child?s room, a few feet down from ceiling level, and use
CLOTHESPINS to display artwork that kids bring home from school.
Once it’s been displayed, if the child can’t part with it, use
clear UNDER BED containers for longer-term storage.

Kids can be taught organizing concepts and tactics, which will
serve them well through school and into their adult years. And
who knows, with their creative little minds working, you might
learn something new about organizing from them!

About the author:
Monica Ricci has been an organizing specialist since 1999, and
her motivational presentations teach effective organizing and
simplifying techniques for home and work. She also offers free
email tips and ideas on how to make life simpler and more
organized. Her topics include clutter control, paper management,
time management, organizing space and procrastination.Contact
Monica at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

. Emails . Phone . Meetings

The increase in productivity from investing a small amount of
time in efficiently managing these activities upfront is more
than worth the result.

EMAIL MANAGEMENT

Keeping up with the daily onslaught of emails is a major
challenge for most of us, both personally & professionally. The
following tips will help you manage the daily flow of emails:

. Create an electronic filing cabinet, much like the physical
cabinets you have, with electronic folders for category names

. Once emails have been read and responded to (if an action is
required), move the email from your inbox to your storage
folders. This makes it easy to track which emails still need an
action. Many companies impose limits on “inbox” size. By moving
your mail out of your inbox to a personal folder, an added
benefit is that the restriction on size will not interrupt your
day at precisely the moment you need to send an email.

. If your email program includes previous email content for that
email string when replying, be sure to delete earlier versions
of the string to avoid redundant emails filed. This makes it
much easier to find the latest copy in the string when searching
later.

. If your email has an attachment file, detach and save it as a
file in your electronic filing system for future reference, so
you won’t have to go searching through your emails to find the
file later. Relying on email subject headings can create a time
consuming search for the file later.

. If you frequently send the same type of email, save a copy as
a draft or template that you can reuse over & over (changing the
specifics such as name, date and amount for each email)

. If a document is available electronically, but you refer to it
frequently, print it and keep it in a hanging file or on your
desktop.

. Every 6 months or so, go through your folders and delete
emails no longer needed. This will save disk space and make your
searches more streamlined.

PHONE MANAGEMENT

. When you leave a voice mail for someone, if the issue you are
calling about is a straightforward question, ask it on voice
mail to avoid playing telephone tag. Also, encourage the
responder to leave the answer on your voice mail if they miss
you. However, if the issue is complex, do not leave a lengthy
voice mail explaining the issue (out of consideration for the
recipient).

. If you know you will be in meetings or unavailable at certain
times, let the person know o avoid voice mail telephone tag.

. If you are in the middle of a complex task that requires an
uninterrupted thought process, let voice mail answer the phone.
Otherwise, take the call to avoid a pile up of messages to
return later.

. Phone messages should be responded to within 24 hours. If you
have been too tied up to answer a question or inquiry, at least
respond to the person who called to let them know that, and then
give them an expected date by which you will have the answer for
them. This way you still seem responsive, even if you cannot
address their request immediately.

MEETING MANAGEMENT

. When calling a meeting, always draft an agenda and attach it
to the meeting invitation. The agenda will serve multiple
purposes:

o Help attendees prepare for the meeting o Provide a sense of
time allocated to each subject, so attendees can be mindful of
intended time allotments o Focus attention on the key issues to
discuss (in case the meeting agenda gets sidetracked) o
Demonstrate to others that you value their time & intend to make
the meeting productive

This work equally well for small or large meetings, but becomes
even more essential to productivity with a large meeting

. After the meeting, it is helpful to prepare “meeting minutes”.
The minutes provide a summary of the key points discussed, and
the associated outcomes and action items. They serve as a
helpful recap for the attendees, as well as others who could not
attend, but who have an interest in the subject matter. A track
record of accurate meeting minutes also helps to keep meeting
size to a manageable volume, as all of the affected parties will
feel less of a need to attend the meeting in order to understand
its’ directional outcomes.

. The day before the meeting, make sure to arrange for copying
of any required handouts.

. If co-workers are always dropping by for impromptu meetings,
don’t hesitate to create a “Do Not Disturb” time to be used for
those complex thinking projects, where being interrupted has a
big impact on your train of thought.

Copyright 2004-All rights reserved

About the author:
As The Organizing Wiz, Ilene Drexler works with clients who want
to get organized in their home or offices. As a member of the
National Association of Professional Organizers and the National
Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, Ilene is a part of the
industry’s leading resources for professional organizing.

The Organizing Wiz Phone 917-301-1981 Email:
ilene@organizingwiz.com
url: www.organizingwiz.com

The message I am sending today is world wide, and I would like
for all to know what you as a parent can do to make raising your
kids a pleasant and memorable journey for you and our future to
be world leaders. The information contained in this article will
work for all, single parent as well as married couples.

When one conceives a baby in today’s world it is sent off after
six to eight weeks to some daycare center to be raised by the
daycare centers “workers”. I know many of us wish we didn’t have
to do that, but if we have no choice who am I to condemn that.
Just in case your wondering, your not alone in the world.

You are about to learn what it takes to make smiles out of the
most degrading moments in your life. My “MOM the old Queen”, as
I always called her used to say and I quote: “Son no matter how
hard it gets, even when you want to toss them in the fire.
please remember that they didn’t ask to come into this world you
brought them here”.

With those words I am going to shed light onto many years of
sorrow and bring smiles.

Let’s start out with siblings that are just babies, do you
recall how cuddly and cute they were. Well, do you know that
those big old lumps of problems that your faced with daily is
and will always be that same cute and cuddly baby, but in a full
grown outfit. My Mama always said enjoy your kids and talk with
them when they are young, because they grow up much faster than
we think. If you can always just set your focus in your mind to
that cute and cuddly moment, it will always make you smile and
you will be a lot easier on your kids.

Let’s take when our babies start to progress and the first
sounds echo through the home. Next will be the baby steps and
then will be the moments of truth, the terrible two and three
year olds. Well just remember that they are building their
futuristic leaders capabilities.

Now when your two year old is just crying and you want to pick
them up and toss them away, just think on my Mama words and say
to yourself what can I do to make them ease down on the crying.
They can’t talk and it is frustrating to them as well. Just pick
them up and start playing with their tummy and kissing them and
in no time you will see the tears are all gone. I call this the
“TUMKIS”.

If you learn to speak grown up conversations with your kids,
they will understand you much better. Save the baby talk, for
future leaders need to learn how to communicate from a very
young age.

When you pick up your one year,two year old or three year old
from daycare, what the topic of conversation. You should always,
start by asking how their day was. Now you will be hearing a lot
of sound from those that can’t speak, but they make sounds and
are really trying to explain to you how it was.

What can you do to prevent the toddler that get the tantrum and
throws himself on the floor of the shopping mall in front of the
whole world. This is the most embarrassing moment, but first off
who is the parent. Well many parents start feeling the guilt
trip. You simply pick them up and start playing the TUMKIS. Next
you need to start adding words to behavior and let them know
that is rude.

I want to stress one point here and I have seen so many parents
fail at this. What tone of voice do you use when speaking to
your kids?

I do hope that you use a different tone of voice when your mad,
your kids can sense that tone of voice. They tend to pick up on
that tone of voice very early. Use it often when your mad at
what they did, but please explain to them why your mad and why
your voice speaking in that tone of voice.

Well I can go on all day but the topic of raising our 21st
century leaders is a vast one. If you ever have a problem with
your kids and would like to know how to deal with it, please
feel free to email me. I will gladly answer your question and
let you know the methods I use to deal with the situation your
facing now.

One last point I would like to add. When was the last you told
your daughter or son you love them? Make it a practice that they
kiss you every day, before they leave your home and when they go
to bed. No leader in a kid that’s filled with hate, teach them
the gentle roll of life.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article, and I do hope it
helped you out dealing with the “little leaders”.

And if all else fails, please remember my “Mama”:

“Son no matter how hard it gets, even when you want to toss them
in the fire. please remember that they didn’t ask to come into
this world you brought them here”.

P.S. How will you know if your doing a great job raising your
kids? They will shower you with love and kisses.

About the author:
Alexander Marlin