“Please don’t rush me!” Allow time for transitions. When we are engaged in an activity, whether it’s a computer project or reading a great book, most of us need time to switch gears. Children also need transition time. Give time for transition by letting your child know what will come next. “In five minutes we will have to put the toys away so we can leave for school.” If your child is too young to understand the concept of time you can set an alarm on your phone. Or use an old fashion egg timer. This provides as a good visual for your child by showing when it is time to transition.
You can also create a pictorial chart which displays the sequence of the day’s activities. For bath time, cut out a picture of a child bathing from a parenting magazine, take a digital picture of your child reading a book for story time, and a draw a picture of a bed for time to sleep. If you create the pictorial schedule with your child, not only is it a great time management tool, but also a lesson in literacy and an activity that helps develop fine motor skills.
In addition to helping your child change his focus from one activity to another, allowing time for transition demonstrates that you respect your child’s time and value his or her play. Remember “play,” is a child’s work and as such is an important training ground for developing lifelong skills.
My nine year old has trouble getting ready in the morning so she and I came up with a way to make the morning go a little smoother.She has a jar and poker chips for each of her three tasks in the morning if they are completed with out mommy having to say "come on what are you doin let's get a move on" I only say to her "Have you placed any chips in your jar yet this morning".Then she may use them at the end of her day when her homework is finished. Smaller children need to have a fair amount of warning time for the before transtion time. You may first let them know verbally the in Five min I will set the time and then we are going to start preparing for cleanup. 5min is near let the children know that you have set the timer. And in three min we will clean. Three min is up now we will begin to clean up together.You have now givin the three seperate warning within reasonable time for cleanup.
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