The pick and choose technique

The pick and choose technique

When Supernanny Jo Frost visited the Duan-Ahn family, she found the kids had so much to do they had no down-time at all. Use her pick and choose technique to narrow your child’s commitments down to a few favorites…

Step 1: Figure out your child’s workload

This is a great way of visualizing the extent of your child’s extra-curricular commitments – if you’re doing one a night it might not have sunk in just how busy she is. Have your child fetch one important item connected with each activity, tutorial, hobby or sport they do – for example, if your son plays in Little League he can use his mitt or bat; if your daughter is a cheerleader she could fetch her poms. Get them to make a pile of the items and then start giving them each separate item to hold. At some point they’ll be overloaded and run out of arm space – a great metaphor for just how overloaded their schedules are.

Step 2: Decide what’s do-able

Come to an agreement on how many activities you and your child can reasonably manage across a week, with at least one afternoon and evening of family down-time.

Step 3: Give your child a voice

Let your child pick which activities he wants to keep doing – you may find he has long-hated some of them and is only too pleased to give them up!

Step 4: Have your own say

For each activity your child picks, you get to pick one too – this should ensure his activities aren’t all weighted in one direction (for example, a range of sports without any more academic choices to provide a balanced range).

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