Happy Friday, Reader!

Fridays are often laundry days at my house – a task that presents a massive challenge to my executive functioning. Unless we’re completely out of clothes, I’m unlikely to feel naturally motivated to do it. The ordeal involves sorting and organizing mountains of laundry, and with all of the washing and drying, I have to maintain sustained attention to the goal (or end up with a mildewy mess). The challenges are endless and persistent, and the work never really feels like it’s done.

As I faced this week’s laundry mountain and asked myself, “What’s one thing I could do that would make this easier for me?” the topic of this week’s tip of the week came to me…

Tip of the Week: Let Your Routines Evolve

When it comes to household tasks (like laundry), we need to let our routines evolve to give kids more responsibility. After all, eventually they will need to be fully independent with all of these household tasks themselves so they can successfully leave the nest, and the best way to facilitate that is by gradually releasing responsibility for the tasks of daily living.

To put this into practice, ask yourself, “What is a pain point I experience as a parent that I would like more help with?” and “How could I scaffold this to make it easier for my child to help?”

In my laundry example, I realized I had been managing much of the process independently for far too long. Everyone would help bring their laundry to the laundry room, but they’d leave all of the sorting to me. That seemed like a good starting point because, with guidance, everyone in my family could sort their clothes into the appropriate category. I grabbed some laundry bins, created labels that described with text and visuals what should go inside each bin (the scaffolding), and asked my children to practice sorting this week’s laundry mountain. When they finished, I was met with claims like, “That was really easy!” and “So easy! I don’t know why you were complaining about that, Mom!” (Oh, sweet summer child…next week, you’ll be folding your own clothes, too…but I digress…)

There are so many times we end up taking things on for our kids because we expect that it may be easier and more efficient, and while that may be true in some situations, we may also be depriving kids of opportunities to improve their own executive functioning skills. If we wait for them to ask for more responsibility or be motivated to help out, that day may never come. We have to let our expectations gradually evolve to match their capabilities. So this week, I’d encourage you to look for ways you can revise your own household routines to give kids more responsibility.

Executive Function Elsewhere in the World

Here are a couple of my favorite resources from this week:

• I’m loving the podcast In It: Raising Kids Who Learn Differently, produced by Understood.org. If you are the parent or teacher of a neurodiverse kiddo, I highly recommend that you check out an episode or two.
• This week’s rethinking of chores was also inspired by following Sam Kelly’s work. Sam is a therapist turned course creator who argues that too often, the invisible load of managing the household falls on one parent. She hopes to change that trend by creating routines like “Notice & Do,” where everyone (kids included) notices what needs to be done and does it without needing to be asked. I first learned of her work on The Best of Both Worlds Podcast, but you can also find her on Instagram.

Upcoming Workshop: Get AP Test Ready!

Do you have a high school student who is preparing for Advanced Placement tests this spring? If so, they should join Coach Maria on March 29, 2025, for a 90-minute in-person workshop on Building Savvy Study Plans to Be AP Test Ready. This workshop will cover key ideas about finding and using effective study materials, creating a long-term study plan you can stick with, and maintaining the motivation to follow through with the plan. Visit our website to learn more and register now, as space is limited.

Interested in Executive Function Coaching?

Whether you’re looking for something this spring or hoping to start in the summer or fall, now is the time to book a discovery call and get on our list! Discovery calls are typically 30-minute conversations about what EF coaching entails and what’s happening that has you considering coaching as an option. You will not be pressured to make any decisions or commitments. But we’re already making decisions about scheduling and capacity for the fall, so if you’re interested in exploring this option, resist the urge to procrastinate. You can learn more at our website.

Have a great weekend!

On behalf of the BSL Team

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P.S. If this email content is valuable to you, would you please forward it to other parents who might benefit from it? We’re on a mission to build savvy learners who can develop and leverage tools that support executive functioning, and we’d love to connect with more parents. Your support in that endeavor means the world to us.

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