Your heart pounds and you gulp for air … “Not the lunchbox.”

You got it in one mums – little Johnny has lost his lunchbox at school again. What’s more, it’s only day three of the school year.

There is nothing more frustrating. Your family has worked hard and budgeted tightly to provide the things that your child needs and yet, children being children, items go missing.

Sigh. It’s time to head off to lost property and see if the lunchbox surfaces amongst all the other lost school gear.

So, what can you do to help bring that missing lunchbox back to the right home? How can you help your kids know what items belong to them and not to others? Here are some top tips for keeping your kids school stuff where it belongs and out of lost property:

1.     Create A List:

Create a short list of things that are to return home everyday from school. Simply laminate and attach to the inside of your child’s school bag to help them check each afternoon if they have everything they need BEFORE they leave the school grounds.

2.     Label Everything:

Over the top labelling is the way to go and the best defence against lost school items.  Professional labels from SkoolLabels.com.au encourage easy identification of the ownership of items and are cute and tough to boot!  If an item does go missing and is wearing a SkoolLabel – you can bet it will be returned twice as fast!

3.     Know Where Lost Property Is & Check It Regularly:

Take note every new school year where the lost property is located in your school. If something does not make it home, keep checking every couple of days for it in the lost property. Sometimes it can take a couple of days for items to turn up. If it is labelled well, chances are you will find it here!

4.     Don’t Take Everything To School:

Limiting items that are taken to school is another great strategy for keeping items safe. For instance, do all the glue sticks for the term really have to go into the pencil case? You are better off limiting what goes to school to make it easier for your child to bring the items home.

The less that goes to school, the less chance of it ending up in lost property.

5.     Keep Spares:

If possible, keep spares of items at home.  If a winter jumper goes missing, your child can then simply wear the spare jumper to school while you track down the missing one. Limit the stress of the situation on you and your child.

6.     Rewards For Not Losing Things:

Have you got a multiple offender who seems to be always losing school items? Perhaps a reward chart or term reward is in order to encourage and motivate your child to double-check they have all their items before they return home at the end of a school day.

7.     Encourage Responsibility:

Speak to your child about responsibility and how important it is throughout life to take responsibility for your actions as well as your things. Encouraging responsibility within your child will lead to greater independence and a higher return rate of school items.

8.     Colour Code:

Installing a colour coding system across your school supplies can also assist with your child’s ability to organise and prioritise the care of school items. One simple block colour can be all it takes for your child to remember that he/she owns that pencil case, book or sharpener!

9.     Memory Games:

Playing memory games with your children, even developing a small rhyme to help them remember the checklist of items to bring home is another fantastic and fun way to help your child. Choose their favourite song, TV show anthem and incorporate the daily list of things they need to remember into it – they will be singing all the way home bringing all of their school supplies with them!

 

All of these hot tips will help your child be organised and keep school items OUT of the lost property bin!

Skoollabels.com.au have a FANTASTIC offer for Mouths Of Mums Readers! Simply buy any name label and get a BIG 50% off pencil labels!  Visit their website for the MASSIVE range of labelling solutions to keep bringing your school items safely home!  But hurry! This special offer runs from the 11/02/16 – 18/02/16 only!

 

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