The Ideal Daily Schedule: How to Help a Schoolchild Organize Their Time

Effective time management is crucial for children to achieve a balance between studies and leisure, successfully pursue their goals, develop discipline, and, despite demanding schedules, still enjoy a vibrant childhood. Children`s psychologists often compare their workload to that of top executives.

Parents play a key role in teaching children the fundamentals of time management. It`s important to start instilling the habit of valuing time from an early age. Adults need to be attentive to each child`s individual characteristics, goals, temperament, and interests. The right approach to time management doesn`t mean trying to pack every minute of the day; rather, it`s about wisely allocating time for lessons, extracurricular activities, clubs, and hobbies in a way that makes the day fulfilling without leading to burnout.

Natalya Galoy, Associate Professor at the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Moscow Pedagogical State University, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, emphasizes that it is «a way of managing attention, priorities, and one`s state of resources.» She adds: «In essence, modern parents are the architects of a child`s attention and the navigators of their energy. For a child`s time management, it`s necessary to consider their age, cognitive processes, emotional sphere, and at a minimum, their temperament, character, and self-esteem.»

Just as in any learning process, the mentor`s task is to transfer initiative to the student at the right time. In time management, this means a child should not get used to parents «managing» their time well into middle school.

Time Loves Discipline

Don`t postpone organizing your child`s time management. The best time to start is now. You can use methods recommended by child psychologists.

Begin by creating a weekly plan that includes all scheduled activities: school, clubs, doctor`s visits, sports sections, and meetings with friends. Compile the schedule together with your child on Sunday. It`s crucial to set a strict time for waking up and going to bed, as discipline is paramount here.

Once the child is accustomed to the weekly schedule, you can move on to daily planning, which should be done the evening before.

For task distribution, you can use, for example, the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps categorize tasks into: «Urgent and Important,» «Not Urgent and Important,» «Urgent and Not Important,» and «Not Urgent and Not Important.»

Help children understand the metaphorical terms for different types of tasks used in time management:

• Elephant — a large task that is daunting to start. By breaking it down into smaller subtasks, it becomes much easier to handle.
• Frog — a small but unpleasant task. The best advice is to complete it first.
• Mammoth — a large but outdated task. It`s important to notice it in time, verify if it has truly lost relevance, and then cross it off.
• Unicorn — a big desire that has long remained unrealized. The recommendation is to turn it into an «elephant» and begin working towards its realization.

The principle of time management dictates that a schedule should be 50-60% rigid. The first half of the day should be planned more strictly, including all important and urgent tasks. After each such activity, leave «green zones» — small time pockets for rest and unforeseen circumstances.

Clearly limit the time for homework for each subject. Then, be sure to add a «Rest» item. Rest should be productive: during free time, the child needs to switch activities, ideally changing their environment. Therefore, parents are advised to create different zones for studying and relaxing at home.

The planning process should be engaging for the child. Create a list of tasks based on their desires and needs, as they will be following this schedule. Planning can be done offline using magnetic boards or Kanban boards (also available online), cute stickers, colorful markers, and funny labels. Alternatively, use phone apps that allow tasks to be color-coded and checked off.

Marianna Lukashenko, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, and business coach, advises: «In middle school, it`s worth planning time taking into account goals and priorities. Try to draw a map of key areas of their life with your child, also known as a dream map. For adults, these are typically work, family, and then for everyone else — friends, health, travel, sports. A child might have their own key areas and dreams. For these to come true, they should be transformed into concrete goals. Then priorities will become clear, allowing for proper time planning so it`s allocated to main tasks. And for the child, such planning will become the strongest motivation, as they will understand the connection between everyday activities and their dreams and do everything necessary for them to come true.»

Once the child masters planning, let them create their schedule independently. Parents will then only need to monitor the process, remind when necessary, and praise every success.

Sample Schedule from Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPSU):

Planning Mistakes

Children`s time management is a flexible tool because children are constantly growing and changing. It`s no coincidence that child psychologists urge parents to focus on a child`s habits and individual characteristics.

One common mistake occurs when parents project their own time-planning approach onto their children or compare their child`s productivity to their own during childhood.

A second common mistake is ignoring the need for rest and creating an overly packed schedule overloaded with «rigid» tasks. Marianna Lukashenko recalls: «I remember one mother who would meet her daughter from school and, while the daughter was getting dressed, fed her yogurt with a spoon so they could rush off to a music lesson without a minute`s delay. The error in such a schedule is that the child experiences constant stress due to `rushing` from one place to another, the threat of being late, and the lack of rest and simple relaxation, which leads to overwork and a loss of interest in activities. Therefore, planning extracurricular activities and any `rigid tasks` should be done with significant intervals between them.»

Parental mistakes can also stem from an underestimation of children`s attention spans and concentration depths at different ages for the tasks they are asked to perform. Incorrect time distribution techniques will primarily negatively affect the children themselves.

Childhood Burnout

Natalya Galoy notes that «the lives of some schoolchildren resemble the schedule of a top executive at leading companies.» Modern children become exhausted faster and more severely than their parents did in their childhood. The first sign of burnout is emotional exhaustion. The spectrum of a child`s emotional experiences narrows: neutral or negative emotions predominantly prevail.

Burnout can manifest as a child trying to distance themselves from others. They seem to conserve energy, their desire to show initiative diminishes, and their willingness to engage in games with other children decreases. «But since their psyche is irritated, children still need stimulation. And they might develop habits like nail-biting, lip-biting, or other compulsive behaviors,» adds the Associate Professor from the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology at MPSU.

Furthermore, a child`s self-esteem decreases, and they devalue their achievements. Unlike adults, children develop psychosomatic symptoms more quickly from burnout, most often manifesting as common colds.

Every child is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all template for organizing a child`s time. There are many time management techniques and approaches. Don`t try to use everything at once; it`s better to try one thing, then another, and choose what suits the specific child. Most importantly, parents themselves should include «Teach my child to manage their time effectively» on their own to-do list.