Timing the Future

It’s now or never -- at least when it comes to teaching children the value of time and the discipline of time management.

“Parenting experts have said it time and again—childhood is the best time to ingrain the skill of time management,” points out Kelvin Ngo, Operations Manager of Kids Watch Central. “Studies tell us that 80% of a typical workday is wasted on unimportant tasks and wasted time – a statistic that could have been prevented if only these adults had been disciplined early on.”

To help raise awareness on the importance of time management among children, Kids Watch Central will be holding Kids Watch Central Family Fun Summit 2009 a parenting seminar on time management that takes this issue head-on. “It may sound like a cliché, but now’s the right time to do something about it;

Real Mothers, Real Lessons


“What makes Kids Watch Central Family Fun Summit 2009 different is that the lessons from it are not textbook-based. The insights that will be shared are from real-life mothers who actually had to experience teaching their kids first-hand,” notes Ngo.

Kids Watch Central Family Fun Summit 2009 will be headlined by Mocs Lopez and Jennifer Tan. The former is a teacher from Explorations Pre-School and a mother to three kids. Lopez is a firm believer on setting clear priorities and delineating tasks. “One important insight is that the prioritizing should come from the children themselves. If they’re the ones who classify homework for tomorrow as ‘urgent’ or attending soccer practice as ‘important;’ then they can delegate their time and optimize their efforts willingly.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Tan, who’s likewise a teacher from Explorations Pre-School and a single mother to two boys aged 6 and 8, opines that children themselves should realize the consequences of not having their time managed well.

”Parents should talk to their kids about the consequences whenever they don’t manage their time,” says the progressive parenting advocate and hands-on mom. “It isn’t enough that parents discipline them whenever they refuse to follow. Parents should communicate how time management affects their kid’s daily activities. For example, parents can tell children that if they prioritize studying now, that means they have more time to play later on.”

Concretizing Time


However, both Mocs Lopez and Jennifer Tan admit that teaching time management is not an easy task – especially since time itself is an abstract concept. “It’s not unusual for children to ask: ‘mom, what does a minute look like?’ or ‘how do I know if my time is already up,’ and this is where tools such as children’s watches come in.”

They also believe that it would help if these timepieces are visually appealing or interesting to the kids themselves. “If their favorite character is Spiderman or Barbie of course, they’re likely to be more interested in looking at watches that feature these characters as opposed to a plain-faced one. It’s about adding an element of ‘fun’ to a visual representation of time.”

Kids Watch Central --a retail outlet that specializes in kids watches—for instance, is one place where parents can source trendy and colorful character watches. Here characters such as Transformers, Hello Kitty, Barbie and Ben10 come alive to teach children the value of time and the discipline of time management. Kids Watch Central stores can be found in the children's accessories area of leading department stores.

Without doubt, parents should give their children an early head start on the lesson of time management. And with proper guidance and the right tools such as Kid’s Watch Central’s character timepieces, ‘now or never’ is not so daunting after all.

Kids Watch Central, is located inside the Children’s Accessories area in leading department stores such as SM, The Landmark, and Rustan’s.

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