The challenge

Step 1

With your child, make a list of tasks need to do together on a Saturday. For example: "We need to go to town to buy bread, we need to drop something off at Grandpa's place, then we need to get to netball by 10 o'clock. Don't forget, we also need to get dressed, have breakfast and tidy up."

Step 2

Get your child to help you work out a plan, to make sure you can do all your jobs and not be late. Get them to think about how long each job takes and how long it takes to travel places.

The conversation

Here are some things you could discuss with your child:

• For example, as you are coming back from netball practice, talk about whether your plan was successful. Did you encounter any challenges like being stuck in a traffic jam, or being caught behind a tractor? Was there a queue at the bakery? Did Grandpa want to have a long chat?
• What would they do differently next time?
• You can also talk about things like: "If we know that it takes 3 minutes for us to buy bread, how could we describe that in seconds?"
• Have your child record the times that you need to do things by drawing a clock, and ask them to describe the time that each clock represents.