Workshop to Teach Parents to Organize

Parents of elementary school children can learn about helping with homework and balancing school with other activities at a free workshop Sept. 11 at St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Anne Hansen, the educational coordinator for St. Anne’s Outreach who teaches “School Daze,” will cover the topics of basic organizational study skills that might make communication between parents and children a little bit easier this school year.

“It’s important to leave enough time so everybody isn’t racing around, to not over schedule the child in sports or ballet-- basically to make school a priority,” Hansen said.

Working parents will find this workshop especially helpful, she said.

“The message is to sit down and look at the whole picture, at what mom and dad have to do and at what the children have to do,” Hansen said.

Not only is time management a must, but space management also sends a clear signal that school is important.

When time and space management are not under control, the morning routine often digresses to chaos.

“Kids start crying, mom and dad start yelling and everything falls apart,” she said.

“Then mom feels guilty that she yelled as the child goes out the door with his math work not finished because he couldn’t find a pencil with an eraser.”

Simple tips that will make school mornings more pleasant, such as preparing lunch and clothes the night before, will also be covered.

“Children don’t know a lot of these things, so we have to teach them,” she said.

“The attitude of the parent is oftentimes what contributes to the success of the child in school.”

The workshop will be from 7 to 11 p.m. in Conference Room 1, on the Garden Level of St. John’s Regional Medical Center at 1600 N. Rose Ave., Oxnard.

The registration deadline is Sept. 9.

For more information, call 988-2865.