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From the Parenting Edge Newsletter

A segment from our December parent newsletter

Parties. Shopping. Baking. Decorating. Get-togethers. The holiday season is a very busy time—with the kids home from school and the hectic pace of this season, staying organized and focused on school can be quite a challenge. After all, the holidays are a break from routine — a time when the normal rules don’t apply.

There is a big market for products that help you stay organized during times of chaos, or even just during everyday life. Agendas, planners, calendars, and digital organizers help to organize time, while storage containers, baskets, and label makers help to organize things. But how do you organize your thoughts so that thinking and planning are more clear — how do you organize your brain?

Organizing the brain isn’t as impossible as it sounds. The brain is capable of great changes, including the ability to think about things in new ways such as how to process and store information. This is known as cognitive development, and the brain is always up to the challenge—it just takes some mental legwork, some practice, a little focus, and heaps of determination.

Just as you can tidy up your desk and organize your binder to find things more easily, you can declutter the brain to regroup and organize information so that thinking is better organized. As you think about things in a new way, your brain will develop new and improved neural pathways to better access information—how cool is that?

When the brain has strong organizational abilities, it can stay focused and on track, even during times of great distraction, like over the holidays.

Use a school agenda—even when not in school!

By now, you’ve seen at least one report card, and you’ve probably been to one teacher conference. Your child has completed more than a few assignments and logged some serious homework hours. Together, you’ve built good habits, established a routine, and have a focus and a plan of action.

Just because the holiday season is here it does not mean that it’s okay to abandon focus and plans. Yes, slacken the rules a little, it’s the holidays after all, but don’t ditch them entirely!

The holidays are perfect for relaxation and celebration, but not every hour of every day is a party. Studies show that children actually crave structure and routine. Over the holidays, use a holiday agenda to stay organized and focused, and to stay on top of any upcoming January assignments.

Give your Child the Gift of Time Management—use a Holiday Agenda.

Use the agenda during the holidays to underscore the idea that school doesn’t end just because kids are on break. Create a seamless transition to back-to-school by staying organized and on-track.

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