Supporting Your Child’s Executive Functions: How to Buy a Watch

There are lots of fun (and cheesy) jokes about time. Here’s a great one:

Customer: I’d like a watch that tells time.
Clerk: Don’t you have a watch that tells time?
Customer: No, you have to look at it.

Wouldn’t it be great to never have to look at a watch to know what time it is? The reality is that people executive functioning challenges like myself struggle enormously with time management. We find it very difficult to navigate time, and owning a watch becomes a major aspect of managing our lives successfully – at any age.

Anyone who has taken the Seeing My Time program knows the importance of wearing a watch. But not just any watch! An analog watch is a critically important time management tool, as it grounds you in space AND time. This is a GREAT way to support your student’s executive functions.

Many people choose to use their cell phone as a watch – but beware! Phones are incredibly distracting any brain, let alone one that struggles with executive functions. For more detailed reasons for choosing a watch over a phone as your time keeping device, check out my blog post on the topic, Executive Functioning Tip #4: The Analog Watch Vs. The Cell Phone. Plus, buying a wristwatch for your student is a great way to start off the school year.

For some tips on buying a watch for your child, please refer to the handy graphic below, taken from my book, 50 Tips to Help Students Succeed.