| Get in the Zone | The best place to start retooling, Sheri says, is your after-school routine. What's the first thing your kids do as they walk through the door? Do they dump their backpacks in the floor, toss their lunchboxes aside, and head for the couch? Are they dashing through the house to get ready for football practice or music lessons? Whatever your current routine is, you can streamline it by designating some space in your home for these three zones:
1. The Homework Zone. "Homework zones vary because they need to be based on your kids' learning style," Sheri says. The kitchen table works well for kids who thrive on hustle and bustle, while others need a desk in their room or in a dedicated office space where distractions are kept to a minimum.
The best homework zones, however, don't have to be torn down and reassembled every day. "That can be tough in a smaller home, but I encourage parents to carve out a corner in the kid's room or the family room with a table space and somewhere for all the child's supplies to live," Sheri advises.
Kids need some say-so in their homework zone set-up. "Ask the child what they think will work for them. What kind of lighting? Do they like music playing while they work?" The more input the kids have, the more likely they will be to use the space as you intended, she says.
2. The Drop Zone. This is the designated parking place for all the kids' stuff—backpacks, jackets, sports equipment and so on. The best locations for a drop zone are either in the child's room or near the exit everyone uses when they head to school in the morning.
Make use of vertical space so your drop zone doesn't take up too much room. "Use hooks and hang bins on the wall," Sheri recommends. "If your kids are into sports, have a hamper handy so the really stinky stuff doesn't make it into their rooms."
No one wants to deal with an organizational eyesore in their home, even for the sake of efficiency. But with a little creativity, your system can fit right in with your home's décor, Sheri says.
"One family hung a large, personalized picture frame on the wall for each kid. Inside the frames, attached to the wall, were hooks for their backpacks and jackets, organizers and clips for papers, and a corkboard for other reminders," she says. "The kids participated in the design, so it wasn't just the parents laying down the law about where to put their stuff."
3. Mom and Dad's Zone. This is simply a container of some kind for all the paperwork that will need your attention each day. "I recommend you set up a file folder for each child," Sheri says. "Put them in a vertical file holder, color code—whatever you have to do to quickly identify which papers belong to which child." | | | | |
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