The Kaizen Method Against Children’s Laziness
Often, we find ourselves being more tolerant of children’s laziness than adults. However, there comes a time in childhood when we are concerned about their lack of activity, a phenomenon that occurs especially with teenagers. To improve this situation, the Japanese give us the Kaizen method, a remedy that helps to increase the enthusiasm for work in the little ones.
Sometimes laziness isn’t just about doing housework or tidying up their room – children may also struggle to finish schoolwork quickly. Likewise, they may be lazy even in carrying out activities that should arouse their enthusiasm. As a result, it often happens that they are unmotivated and throw at the long things they have to do with no possibility of backing out.
Why are children lazy? How can we help them turn this laziness into energy? The Kaizen method seems to be right for us. This technique practiced by the Japanese, in fact, works and is applicable in most situations.
How does the Kaizen method work?
We have already seen how laziness behaves in children. They pull on long daily activities, math problems, or a simple favor they have to do for mom. They also struggle to get up early or go to brush their teeth, let alone when it’s time to pick up toys. For all this, there is the rule of the minute. Let’s see what it is.
The Kaizen method, or rule of the minute, works in a positive way. In Japanese, the name of this technique means changing wisely. It is considered a very effective method to combat laziness and lack of enthusiasm. In general, it demands that we avoid leaving things unfinished and that we be more persistent when we have to dedicate ourselves to some task.
Fortunately, this method is effective for both children and adults. As a result, it could help us improve ourselves too, should we need it. The procedure for putting it into practice is as follows.
Method
- With constancy and dedication, we plan a daily task, which must be done every day at the same time. For this purpose, we set a stopwatch to a duration of one minute, the time we reserve for the completion of the action. Since it is only a minute, the child cannot complain about the activity that has been entrusted to him. The ticking of the clock causes time to motivate him and suggests that he must hurry.
- Remember that the scheduled task must be the same, every day at the same time. In other words, if your child is having a hard time putting his toys in order, he will find this program on his list every day. For a minute he will devote himself to tidying up.
- It is important that we are consistent and that we stay with him while he does his duty. Let’s not forget to actually set a clock to one minute duration either. This is the time that must be respected, in order to make sure that the task is carried out without delay.
- For children, the Kaizen method is effective, because they make it their own and consider it a game. They will find it fun to rush to get the job done on time. After all, we don’t ask the child much, except to devote 60 seconds to a certain task.
- In the case of schoolwork, the one-minute rule applies in stages. One minute to do this, one to complete this reading, another to color this map. Keeping track of the time of each job allows you to minimize the time devoted to this activity.
- When the child gets used to it, he will do the task without having to insist: time will no longer matter and he will do everything automatically. After we notice his improvements, we can increase the time spent on each task to 5 minutes and then to 10. It will soon become a habit beyond the control of laziness.
The origin of the Kaizen method
The Japanese Masaaki Imai created this technique taking into account the reasons why we are valuable. While it is also applicable to adults, in the case of children, children try to avoid tasks that are difficult from the start. They show laziness even when they know that the task they have to do can be time consuming.
Lack of motivation and the belief that you are unable to finish a job successfully also cause delays in its execution. Sometimes, the absence of consequences is the main reason that leads to laziness. If we are not very determined in insisting that they carry out a certain action and, at the same time, its failure to carry out it has no consequences, the children will try in every way to avoid it.
Masaaki Imai believes that the gradual adaptation process creates deeply rooted habits. According to the name of the method, the idea is to achieve inner knowledge in order to change. At the same time, the change doesn’t have to require a lot of effort, so that it can leave room for motivation and endurance.
Cover image courtesy of kwanchaichaiudom
