Teaching Kids Executive Function Skills through Planning a Family Outing
Planning a family outing can be more than just a fun activity—it can be a valuable learning experience for children. By involving them in the planning process, you can help them develop essential executive function skills. These skills are crucial for their success in school, social interactions, and overall well-being. We tried this with our 12-year-old son and saw many benefits from him planning a weekend family activity!
Understanding Executive Function Skills
Executive function skills are cognitive processes that enable individuals to manage themselves and their resources to achieve a goal. Key skills include:
Planning and Organization: Setting goals and planning steps to achieve them.
Working Memory: Holding information in mind while performing tasks.
Inhibitory Control: Resisting impulses and distractions.
Cognitive Flexibility: Adapting to changing circumstances.
Task Initiation: Starting tasks promptly.
Self-Monitoring: Evaluating one’s performance and behavior.
Sustained Attention: Maintaining focus on tasks over time.
Emotional Regulation: Managing emotions in a healthy way.
Goal-Directed Persistence: Staying motivated to achieve long-term goals.
Metacognition: Thinking about one’s own thinking.
These skills are crucial for children as they navigate their academic and social lives and can be reinforced through activities at home.
The Benefits of Involving Children in Planning
The more practice kids get with these skills, it strengthens their executive function over time. Involving children in planning family outings can:
Increase Engagement: Children are more interested when they have a say in the activities. We found there was a lot less complaining when my son chose the activity versus us parents!
Provide Real-Life Practice: Practical scenarios help children develop and practice executive function skills. Doing this with family is a lower risk situation than at school or out in the real-world and parents can guide and coach kids through the process.
Empower and Build Confidence: Taking an active role boosts their confidence and sense of responsibility. Our son took a lot of pride in the day and wanted to see everyone have a good time.
Steps to Plan a Family Outing with Your Child
Here are steps to help your child plan a family outing to help build those executive function skills and see the benefits. We helped our son plan a Saturday afternoon outing.
Step 1: Choose the Destination
Brainstorming: Encourage your child to suggest and research potential outing destinations.
Decision-Making: Guide them in making a final decision based on factors like distance, interests, and feasibility. We picked a state park that was no more than 1 hour away.
Step 2: Create a Plan
Itinerary: Help your child create an itinerary, including activities, times, and necessary items. Our son especially liked picking out where we would eat: Chipotle for lunch and Chick-Fil-A for dinner!
Organize Supplies: Involve them in making a checklist of what to bring and organizing supplies.
Step 3: Assign Roles and Responsibilities
Role Assignment: Assign specific tasks to each family member, including your child, to foster responsibility and teamwork. My partner helped my son create and write out the itinerary, I drove, and my son helped with directions.
During the Outing
Adaptability: Encourage flexibility and adaptability if plans change or unexpected situations arise. We ended up driving to the wrong section of the state park, and had to decide what to do. We instead came upon a lake with a kayak rental so discussed the options and decided to do that instead of a hike! My son also changed our dinner plans to go to a nearby BBQ restaurant for dinner instead of Chick-Fil-A.
Self-Monitoring: Teach your child to keep track of time and activities, and make adjustments as necessary. My son had to monitor the time for driving, lunch and dinner time.
Emotional Regulation: Model and practice managing emotions and stress during the outing. We modeled a family discussion to determine what to do when we drove to the wrong location.
Reflect and Learn
Post-Outing Review: After the outing, sit down with your child to review what went well and what could be improved.
Celebrate Successes: Celebrate the successes and discuss any challenges faced and how they were handled. We thanked our son for organizing a super-fun day and have fond memories of our time together.
Planning a family outing is a fun and effective way to teach children executive function skills. By involving them in the process, you help them develop critical cognitive abilities that will benefit them throughout their lives. We also found that it made it a more fun and cooperative outing. I also appreciated not having the mental load of planning for the day and appreciated the break. Try it out and see how your child grows through the experience!
