马上开学了,如何让各年龄段的孩子做好准备?

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.
《做事有条理的孩子》一书的合著作者、纽约大学朗格尼医学中心儿童与青少年精神病学临床助理教授埃拉娜·斯皮拉博士说，父母可以从孩子学龄前就开始培养孩子良好的组织习惯。

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.
她建议让孩子们定期做一些简单的小事，比如让他们打开背包，把午餐包带到厨房，或者在门口脱下鞋子，放进旁边的鞋柜。这些并不会帮父母节省多少时间，但会帮孩子逐渐养成好习惯。

Doing small chores at a young age helps children exercise inhibition, discipline and attention, all of which they'll need later on.
在年幼的时候做一些简单的家务可以帮助孩子们锻炼自制力、自律和注意力，对他们今后有益。

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.
孩子们上了小学以后，他们就要准备好承担更多的责任。这时你可以教他们一些日常生活安排，帮助他们自己完成。父母和孩子可以坐在一起，列出早上出门或晚上准备睡觉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.
父母和孩子应该一起算出完成每件事需要多长时间，以及做事的最佳时间。有些孩子可能想在前一天晚上准备好背包，挑好衣服，还有些孩子则愿意在第二天早上再准备。

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.
制定一个固定的家庭作业时间表也是个不错的主意。孩子们什么时候做作业？需要多长时间？在哪里做？作业做完后交给谁？提前把所有事项列清楚，尽量坚持执行。

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.
斯皮拉建议打印出任务列表并装订好，并逐步让孩子自己执行这些任务。孩子们甚至可能在每天早晚浏览清单，并用白板笔把完成的任务划掉。

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，要确保孩子们完成这些任务所在的房间都配有易读的时钟。时间管理是学习有条理做事的重要组成部分，但如果孩子们不知道时间，就无法实现。

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，上述所有这些计划要在10岁前开始，不过也适用于青少年。随着孩子们长大，他们的日程安排变得更加繁忙，需要父母帮忙来确定事情的轻重缓急，并理解如何才能让诸事顺利。对年幼的孩子来说，我们的目标是帮助他们找到适合自己的方法，并坚持下去。

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.
日历对于帮助家庭保持井然有序也很重要。朱莉·摩根斯特恩是一位组织和效率专家，也是畅销书《给父母的时间：组织你的生活，展现出孩子和你最好的一面》的作者。她建议使用家庭日历（纸质或电子）并定期维护。每个家庭成员都应该有专属于自己的颜色，这样就很容易看出谁在什么时间做什么。

"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."
“你不能指望人们自己看日历。你应该每天和家人聚在一起，把阅读家庭日历当成日常惯例，还要提前三天看，”摩根斯特恩说。“最好提前几天（在日程安排中）发现问题。”

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夹或贴有标签的风琴式文件夹，用来帮助整理孩子们从学校带回家的各种文件：一个用于存放各种作业，一个用于同意书等等。

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，斯皮拉建议，一旦孩子年龄足够大，大约到三年级，他们应该有一个记事簿，写下所有学校任务。

If any of this strikes parents as overwhelming, or likely to make their children's heads explode, then slow down.
如果家长感到其中任何一项难以办到，或者可能让孩子发狂，那就慢慢来。

"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."
斯皮拉建议说：“通过逐渐改变，让孩子获得成功。你不必一下子解决所有问题。等到孩子能持续成功做到其中一项后，再进行下一个。”

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.
学习做事井井有条让孩子们有机会学习执行，或者使他们能够专注于一项任务并将其完成。

These skills include inhibition (the ability to think before you act); emotional control; task initiation; and time management.
这些能力包括自制力（行动前思考的能力）、情绪控制、任务发起和时间管理。

The lessons learned from maintaining a tidy binder or managing their own calendars will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
从维护一个整洁的活页夹或管理自己的日历中汲取的经验将伴随他们一生。

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.
总的来说，如果孩子们把学习做事井井有条看作是“需要克服的挑战，而不是需要纠正的错误”，就更有动力去学习组织技能。