眼看就要開學了，你的孩子做好準備了嗎？

Parents can begin good organization habits with preschool-age children, said Elana Spira, Ph.D., co-author of "The Organized Child" and clinical assistant professor in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone.

《做事有條理的孩子》一書的合著作者、紐約大學朗格尼醫(yī)學中心兒童與青少年精神病學臨床助理教授埃拉娜·斯皮拉博士說，父母可以從孩子學齡前就開始培養(yǎng)孩子良好的組織習慣。

She recommends asking them to do small, simple actions on a regular basis. Maybe they unpack their backpacks and bring their lunch bag to the kitchen, or take their shoes off at the door and put them in a nearby closet. These won't save parents tons of time, but they will help instill good habits.

她建議讓孩子們定期做一些簡單的小事，比如讓他們打開背包，把午餐包帶到廚房，或者在門口脫下鞋子，放進旁邊的鞋柜。這些并不會幫父母節(jié)省多少時間，但會幫孩子逐漸養(yǎng)成好習慣。

Doing small chores at a young age helps children exercise inhibition, discipline and attention, all of which they'll need later on.

在年幼的時候做一些簡單的家務可以幫助孩子們鍛煉自制力、自律和注意力，對他們今后有益。

小學生

When kids enter elementary school, they're ready for more responsibility. This is the time to teach them about daily routines, and help them take control over theirs. Parent and child might sit down together and make a list of everything that needs to be done to get out of the house in the morning, or get ready for bed at night.

孩子們上了小學以后，他們就要準備好承擔更多的責任。這時你可以教他們一些日常生活安排，幫助他們自己完成。父母和孩子可以坐在一起，列出早上出門或晚上準備睡覺前需要做的所有事情。

Together, they should figure out how long each activity takes, and when the best time to do them is. Some kids might want to get their backpack ready and pick out their clothes the night before; others, in the morning.

父母和孩子應該一起算出完成每件事需要多長時間，以及做事的最佳時間。有些孩子可能想在前一天晚上準備好背包，挑好衣服，還有些孩子則愿意在第二天早上再準備。

It's also wise to create a firm schedule for homework. When do children do their homework? How long do they need? Where do they do it? Where does the homework go once it is done? Figure it out all before, and stick to the schedule as much as possible.

制定一個固定的家庭作業(yè)時間表也是個不錯的主意。孩子們什么時候做作業(yè)?需要多長時間?在哪里做?作業(yè)做完后交給誰?提前把所有事項列清楚，盡量堅持執(zhí)行。

Spira suggests printing up these task lists and laminating them—and then, step-by-step, handing over the execution of these tasks to the children. Children might even check them off with a dry erase marker each morning or evening, as they move through their lists.

斯皮拉建議打印出任務列表并裝訂好，并逐步讓孩子自己執(zhí)行這些任務。孩子們甚至可能在每天早晚瀏覽清單，并用白板筆把完成的任務劃掉。

Also, make sure the rooms in which these tasks take place are outfitted with easy-to-read clocks. Time management is an important part of learning organization, but it can't be done if kids don't know what time it is.

此外，要確保孩子們完成這些任務所在的房間都配有易讀的時鐘。時間管理是學習有條理做事的重要組成部分，但如果孩子們不知道時間，就無法實現(xiàn)。

青少年

All this planning ahead is important to start in the single-digit years, but it works for tweens and teens, too. As children get older and their schedules get busier, they need their parents' help identifying priorities and understanding what it takes to make it all work. As with younger children, the goal is to help them figure out what will work for them -- and then help them stick with it.

重要的是，上述所有這些計劃要在10歲前開始，不過也適用于青少年。隨著孩子們長大，他們的日程安排變得更加繁忙，需要父母幫忙來確定事情的輕重緩急，并理解如何才能讓諸事順利。對年幼的孩子來說，我們的目標是幫助他們找到適合自己的方法，并堅持下去。

Calendars are also essential for helping families stay organized. Julie Morgenstern, organizing and productivity expert and bestselling author of "Time to Parent: Organizing Your Life to Bring Out the Best in Your Child and You," suggests keeping a family calendar—paper or electronic—and maintaining it regularly. Each family member should have a color dedicated to their activities, so it's easy to see who is doing what, when.

日歷對于幫助家庭保持井然有序也很重要。朱莉·摩根斯特恩是一位組織和效率專家，也是暢銷書《給父母的時間：組織你的生活，展現(xiàn)出孩子和你最好的一面》的作者。她建議使用家庭日歷(紙質(zhì)或電子)并定期維護。每個家庭成員都應該有專屬于自己的顏色，這樣就很容易看出誰在什么時間做什么。

"You can't expect people to look at the calendar on their own. You should have a family huddle every day to look at it as part of your routine, and look at three days ahead," Morgenstern said. "It's better to find any problems (in the schedule) days before."

“你不能指望人們自己看日歷。你應該每天和家人聚在一起，把閱讀家庭日歷當成日常慣例，還要提前三天看，”摩根斯特恩說。“最好提前幾天(在日程安排中)發(fā)現(xiàn)問題。”

Other helpful accessories include color-coded folders or labeled accordion folders in the backpack to help organize the various papers children bring home for school: one for each type of homework, one for permission slips, and so on.

其他有用的物件包括背包里的彩色文件夾或貼有標簽的風琴式文件夾，用來幫助整理孩子們從學校帶回家的各種文件：一個用于存放各種作業(yè)，一個用于同意書等等。

Also, once a child is old enough—Spira suggests around 3rd grade—they should have a planner in which they write down all school-related tasks.

此外，斯皮拉建議，一旦孩子年齡足夠大，大約到三年級，他們應該有一個記事簿，寫下所有學校任務。

一種風格并不適合所有人

If any of this strikes parents as overwhelming, or likely to make their children's heads explode, then slow down.

如果家長感到其中任何一項難以辦到，或者可能讓孩子發(fā)狂，那就慢慢來。

"Set the child up for success by instituting change gradually," Spira advises. "You don't have to solve everything at once. Wait until the child has been consistently successful with one solution, before moving on to the next."

斯皮拉建議說：“通過逐漸改變，讓孩子獲得成功。你不必一下子解決所有問題。等到孩子能持續(xù)成功做到其中一項后，再進行下一個。”

Organization gives children the chance to work on executive functioning, or the skills that make it possible to focus on a task and complete it.

學習做事井井有條讓孩子們有機會學習執(zhí)行，或者使他們能夠?qū)Ｗ⒂谝豁椚蝿詹⑵渫瓿伞?/p>

These skills include inhibition (the ability to think before you act); emotional control; task initiation; and time management.

這些能力包括自制力(行動前思考的能力)、情緒控制、任務發(fā)起和時間管理。

The lessons learned from maintaining a tidy binder or managing their own calendars will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

從維護一個整潔的活頁夾或管理自己的日歷中汲取的經(jīng)驗將伴隨他們一生。

Overall, children tend to be more motivated to learn organization skills if they see organization as a "challenge to overcome, rather than faults to repair," Spira said.

總的來說，如果孩子們把學習做事井井有條看作是“需要克服的挑戰(zhàn)，而不是需要糾正的錯誤”，就更有動力去學習組織技能。