Teaching Children Time Management Techniques

Teaching Children Time Management Techniques

School has started.  The mornings of sleeping in and nights of staying up are over.  The adjustment can be difficult the first weeks.  School starts the last week of August. No sooner do they start getting used to the "school schedule"  again, they have a three day weekend (Labor Day).  We have to begin all over.

Here are some tips for both you and the children to ease the stress levels that come with the return to school and teaches them life-long skills (in italics).

The night before:
 

 1.  Homework.  Teach them to do their homework as soon as they finish their snack.  Memories are fresh and they are still in school mode. It gives you time to check it and for them to make necessary corrections.  Once finished, they will feel a sense of accomplishment and can then transfer to “play” mode.  It helps them understand the importance of completing this task.  It helps them make better decisions. Remember to have them put the homework into their backpacks.  No running around looking for it or forgetting in the morning. (organization skills)

2.  Prepare next day's lunch.  Mornings can be so harried; you wind up throwing food together in a hurry.  Have them (help you) make their lunch.  It gives the opportunity to prepare healthier lunches and gives quality time for you to be together.  This will give you both extra minutes in the morning. (organization skills)

3.  Select / prepare their clothes:  Prepare or have the children pick out what they are going to wear the next day.  Have them watch the 5 or 6 o’clock weather forecast.  This gives them the information they need for their picks.  Clothes, shoes, accessories for girls (bows, earrings).  It  teaches them life-long learning planning skills.



 4.  Iron clothes.  It takes time to set up the board, plug in the iron, wait for it to heat up, iron, unplug iron, pick up iron and board.  These 10 - 15 minutes are extra minutes you will gain in the morning. (scheduling skills)

   

5.  Sleep.  Too many kids are falling asleep in the classroom.  They are tired!  It is critical they get at least 8 hours sleep.  They are up early, they have a long day of learning, so make sure that 9 pm is sleep time (adjust depending on age).  Start at 8:45.  Have them take their bath, brush their teeth, go to the bathroom, read them a story, and then it's light's out. (execution skills)

 
Now, you have your time to do whatever it is you want or need to do and you know that tomorrow morning should be calm for both you and your children.  (stress management)

Lady Flo

Florida J. Wolfe

El Paso Black Society Queen

Many of El Paso's city’s founders have been laid to rest in Concordia Cemetery. Florida J. Wolfe, also known as “Lady Flo,” was one of the most remarkable, resilient, albeit mysterious Black women to live in El Paso, Texas.  Consort and common law wife to Irish Lord Delaval James Beresford, who owned cotton plantations and cattle ranches in Canada, the southwestern United States and Mexico, Lady Flo was a proud African American woman who flaunted tradition, but in her good-hearted, generous manner earned the inexorable respect of citizens on both sides of borders of the bi-national cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Born in Illinois, in the town of Salem, daughter of David, born in Virginia, and Nancy, born in Indiana, Wolfe, a black family, Florida, “Flo” grew up in Salem, where she and her family were known as “genteel blacks”.  Florida ended up in Chihuahua, Mexico working as a nurse for the family of the US consul.  It was there in 1886, she met Lord Delaval James Beresford, the brother of the Lord high admiral of the British navy.  She nursed him back to health from an illness and soon became his housekeeper/companion.  Fluent in Spanish, Lady Flo was often described as “looking Mexican.”

Lady Flo’s relationship with Lord Beresford made it easier for them to live in Mexico as Texas law in l893 prevented interracial marriage or cohabitation. The couple frequently traveled between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso in a multi-person entourage. Lady Flo gave grand parties and made contributions to the El Paso Fire Department and Police Department. With Lord Beresford’s death in a train wreck in Minnesota in December l906, Lady Flo claimed his property as his common law wife.
 
Using her knowledge of ranching and farming, she expanded the ranch's production after his death. Lord Beresford’s family in Ireland contested Lady Flo’s claim and after a protracted court battle she received only $15,000 and a “few hundred head of cattle.” 

Rancho Los Ojitos
Region: Northern Chihuahua, Mexico  

Nonetheless Lady Flo spent the remaining years of her life in El Paso, Texas, attending regularly the Second Baptist Church and giving away what was left of her fortune to the poor and downtrodden.

The Second Baptist Church, the oldest black Baptist church in El Paso, Texas,

 opened in 1884 and its building, at 401 S. Virginia, was constructed in 1906. 

Florida J. Wolfe developed tuberculosis and died in El Paso in May 1913.

Lady Flo's gravesite

Concordia Cemetery

El Paso, Texas

The prominent Black physician, Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon tended to Lady Flo and ultimately signed her death certificate.

 

Nixon, Lawrence Aaron (1883–1966)

Lawrence Aaron Nixon, physician and voting-rights advocate, moved to El Paso, Texas in December 1907 where he established a successful medical practice. In 1914 he helped to organize the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

 

  Lord Delaval Beresford’s gravesite

Clonegam Co, Waterford, Ireland  Born: 1862; Died: 22 December 1906  

 Irish Royal Lord Delaval Beresford was killed in a train wreck on his way home to Mexico from his ranch in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada where he had sold one of his ranches.  He described Florida Wolfe, his 20+ year partner, as his wife.  She was referred to by the royal title, Lady.

.

Edward K. Warren

 Australia Newspaper :  June 15, 1910

“The Beresford 110,000 acre Ojitos ranch was purchased for $190,000 by Edward and C. K. Warren, of Three Oaks, Michigan, who owns an adjoining ranch of 120,000 acres."

___________________________________________________________________________

You're never too old to learn new skills.  One of mine, storyteller, came to fruition with the opportunity to take on this role of Lady Flo.  To hear more about Lady Flo, listen to the interview
 firefox and internet express browsers

Patricia