Does your child keep forgetting their afternoon routine? Get Our FREE Ultimate School Bag Keyring Life Hack
As a teacher and a mother I know how hectic life can be and also how confusing it can be for children.
The tricky thing with after school routines these days is that that seem to change day to day and week to week. With flexible working hours, more activities on offer and more mums returning to the workforce- navigating after school life can stressful.
It’s hard enough for parents to remember what is going on each day. Just think how hard it is for kids!
That’s why we want to provide you with a FREE school bag reminder tag to help you and your child stay on top of the daily routine.
What is the After School Key Ring Life Hack?
After many years of standing with children after school and calling parents only to find out they were suppose to get on the bus, or be at a play date- I decided it was time to help the kids (and parents) out.
I made a printable pdf that can easily be laminated and added to a key chain that let’s children know where they need to go each day or just on that particular day.
The idea is that when you pack your child’s bag for the day you attach the appropriate keyring for the day.
What type of after school pick up/activities are included?
20 years of teaching experience has exposed me to the multitude of options that children have for school pick up time. Our pdf includes:
Bus
Dad Picking Up
Mum Picking Up
Babysitter Picking Up
Grandparent Picking Up
OOSH/After School Care/ OHSC/ OSHC/ Before and After School care (what ever you may call it!)
Sports Activities
Walk Home
Car Line
Ride Bike
Play Date
Swimming Lessons
Staying at Mum’s House
Staying at Dad’s House (these are great for children of divorce)
Band
Chess
Blank Copies for extra activities
A days of the week tick a box option for After School Care days.
Since we know everyone is different… We have included BLANK options for each day of the week.
FUN FACT: Did you know that once you laminate a piece of paper you can write on it with a whiteboard marker and wipe it off later?!
We also provide a change of routine notification (IN RED!!!) so it’s easily visible to your child (and their teacher) when their routine has changed.
It’s one thing to remind your child verbally, but kids forget. This can cause some children significant anxiety.
Want to keep it simple?
Stick to one or two options. Remember the whiteboard marker hack? Use that to fill in one of these daily.
After School Care/ OOSH
After School Care or Out Of School Hours Care (OOSH, OSHC) can be one of the tricky things to remember for younger children, especially if their days of care are inconsistent or vary throughout the week.
By throwing a key ring on their bag they know exactly where they need to go that afternoon and so does the teacher.
Tick the day that go each week. Easy.
Tips for helping children with Autism
In my career I have taught hundreds of children with Autism and whilst every child is different I know that many children thrive in structure and routine and KNOWING their routine. These visual reminders and visual timetables are a great way to reassure your child of their afternoon routine. This can helps to lessen anxiety for children with Autism.
Visual timetables can help to:
provide structure and routine
encourage independence
build confidence
improve understanding
avoid frustration and anxiety
Tips for helping children with ADHD
Keeping structure, having communication between home and school, a fixed routine and helping your child be well organised and predictable is essential to assisting a child with ADHD.
These tags help give the child advance warning when activities are changing. An essential element of helping children with ADHD and Autism thrive.
Children with ADHD are more likely to succeed in completing tasks when the tasks occur in predictable patterns and in predictable places. Your job is to create and sustain structure in your home, so that your child knows what to expect and what they are expected to do.
How to Help Kids With Working Memory Issues
Working memory is one of the brain's executive functions. It's a skill that allows us to work with information without losing track of what we're doing.
Problems with working memory can affect kids in and out of school. But parents can help by teaching kids strategies that improve working memory.
Visual cues are a fantastic way to support a child with working memory issues. These tags help by giving your child a clear visual cue of where they need to go each afternoon.
Tips for helping children that forget everything
Some children by nature are just forgetful. Our role as parents (and teachers) is to help them learning organisation strategies and devices that help them get their life in order.
By teaching our children small strategies to help them remember things, we are setting them up for future success.
By teaching our children practical strategies to help them remember things, we are setting them up for future success in life.
How to make your free school bag tags in 6 easy steps
Step One
Download our key tags. Choose the tags that suit your child’s activities and print those pages. There are some blank ones if we haven’t covered them all.
Step Two
Laminate your tags. These keep them weather proof and tear proof. It also allows you to write and wipe numerous times.
Step Three
Cut out the tags you require.
Step Four
Hole punch over the indicated hole.
We are all for making things simple.
This o ring round carabiner is the easiest way to attach your tags to the carabiner. No more fumbling around with tricky keyrings.
I prefer to attach the keyring to a carabiner as keyrings can be tricky to easily open. You can grab cheap ones on amazon.
Step 6
Attach the daily reminder or write on the appropriate day of the week and attach to your child’s bag.
That’s it!
Now enjoy your stress free afternoon routine.
Download yours for FREE here:
Want to know more tips for surviving parenting in the Primary School years?
Grab a copy of our ebook.
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