Getting your child to remember to give notes to the teacher?

How about e-mailing her? Pin the note to his shirt?

Talk about an ongoing problem at my house!

e-mail is best for notes but I have trouble with the forms they need to return. The school gives them daily calendar books and they are to record assignments and such on them. I paperclip the forms to the schedulers. The kids USUALLY need to write something in it each day and when they open the books, there’s the form.

Barb

Terry,

This is more of a long-range solution, but have you tried giving your daughter a sturdy plastic folder or envelope into which all paper she receives during the school day goes and all homework, notes for the teacher, permission slips, etc. are placed in the evening? That way, even if she forgets the notes, the teacher is bound to ask for the homework (at least at your daughter’s age) and when she goes to get it out from her folder, hopefully she will see your note.

Andrea

My daughter has found her own solution. She tapes a reminder to the outside of her backpack so that she will see it as she hangs up her backpack. I actually had considered this but thought it would be embarrassing for her and possibly attract negative attention from other students. For some reason other students don’t even notice. Simultaneously, the teacher has started the “Take Home Folder” method as Andrea alluded to. I’m thinking of all the suggestions as part of a long-term plan as she goes through the grades.

For a little good news. My daughter is very much distracted by beauty, art and creativity. Her new teacher is very attractive and applies her makeup artfully so my daughter is at least focused on her face as opposed to the room decor or the cloud pattern out the window!!!

Terry,

I’m glad your daughter has come up with her own solution. That is a wonderfully positive sign. I wish more people in this world were distracted by beauty, art and creativity!

Andrea

It can be hard especially for younger children to remember to give notes. What about e-mail? These days more and more teachers have e-mail at school. I do and I check it several times a day.

I also have a mailbox where parents can put a note or they can give it to the school secretary who puts it in my mailbox. Or - in a pinch - parents can call the school secretary and leave the important details who then writes a note and puts it in my mailbox.

And what about voice-mail? I have a voice-mail at school that takes a message as I can’t answer the phone during the day.

Good luck.

My son is 12 years old and has ADD. We have been working on improving his role in taking on responsiblity. I help him with his homework. On the inside cover of his binder is where we place all important information. He has learned to love post-it notes. Any notes to the teacher are done on these post-it notes and stuck to the inside of the binder cover. Also, if he needs clarification on an assignment, he even writes his own post-it note to remind himself to ask the teacher. We even use these notes around the house and it truly makes things much more harmonious! It also gives him a sense of sucess in this area in his life.
Hope this helps!
Linda

That is absolutely fabulous. I’m all for personal responsibity. This tool of using post-it notes can be used throughout the adult life as well. I do know of a teacher with ADHD that has post-it notes in his car, on the door etc… He asks people to give him a note if they want him to remember something and he requests that it be on a large piece of paper. No one gets offended. He just honestly says he’ll forget it otherwise or loose it if the paper is too small. Really, anyone could benefit from these techniques. I’m an extremely busy Mon and helping my daughter become more organized is helping me to be more efficient (and I can be a better role model as well.)

Thanks for the post! Terry