Ep 217 Help Your Child Get Organized: Executive Function Tools for the School Year
Does your child forget assignments, struggle to use a planner, procrastinate on homework, or need constant reminders to get out the door in the morning?
Those everyday challenges are opportunities to build executive function skills—and the goal isn’t to create a perfect routine overnight.
In this episode of The Stress Nanny Podcast, Lindsay Miller shares how parents can help kids find their school rhythm: a realistic approach to organization, time management, productivity, homework, rest, and daily routines that works with a child’s actual schedule instead of fighting against it.
Lindsay walks through the conversations she has with kids and teens to help them look at their school day differently. Instead of seeing a schedule as simply a list of classes, kids can learn to notice where they’ll need the most energy, when they have pockets of time to get organized, where they can take a much-needed break, and who they can turn to when they need support.
And sometimes, ten minutes used intentionally during the school day can make the difference between an exhausting pile of homework at night and a much more manageable evening.
The same principle applies at home.
Rather than parents constantly reminding kids what needs to happen next, Lindsay explains how families can help kids build systems around after-school downtime, homework, activities, bedtime, sleep, and morning routines—with kids taking increasing ownership as they develop the skills to do so.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to help kids identify the natural rhythm of their school day
- Simple ways to strengthen executive function and time-management skills
- Why a planner can be powerful—if it actually works for your child
- How small pockets of time at school can reduce the homework burden at night
- Why kids need to know who their support people are before they’re struggling
- How to balance productivity with social time, rest, and after-school decompression
- A simple strategy for making it easier to start homework
- How evening and morning routines can support greater independence
- Why involving kids in creating their own systems can reduce parent-child power struggles
The goal isn’t to manage every minute of your child’s day for them. It’s to help them become more aware of what they need, experiment with tools that work for them, and gradually build the confidence and skills to manage more independently.
Because executive function skills develop over time—and every planner entry, ten-minute work session, morning routine, and independently started homework assignment is a chance to practice.
Listen in for practical ideas you can use to help your child work with the rhythm of the school year and feel more capable, organized, and empowered along the way.
Lindsay Miller is a distinguished kids mindfulness coach, mindfulness educator and host of The Stress Nanny Podcast. She is known for her suitcase tricks and playful laugh. When she's not cheering on her daughter or rollerblading on local trails with her husband, you can find her using her 20+ years of child development study and mindfulness certification to dream up new ways to get kids excited about deep breathing. Having been featured on numerous podcasts, platforms and publications, Lindsay’s words of wisdom are high impact and leave a lasting impression wherever she goes.
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