While most kids face difficulties preparing for tests at one time or another, children with ADHD can face special challenges routinely. Thankfully, there are many ways you can help your child cope. Try these tips to help improve time management and sleep habits so your youngster can perform her best from Mark Connor, director of DriveSafely.Info, a resource for parents of children with ADHD.

My family recently traveled out west for 2.5 weeks, enjoying AAA baseball, science and natural history museums, national parks and historic landmarks. We also enjoyed forgetting a sentimental Curious George stuffie in the Mesa Verde National Park lodge (thanks for sending it back, Janice!), complaints about not wanting to look out the window at any more scenery and dodged a few forest fires.

But we did have a great time! And I thought I’d share five things that helped (or would have helped and will help next time) just in time for your Labor Day Weekend travels.

There are many digital apps to choose from to help us manage our schedules, plans, and tasks, but how do you filter through all of them and find one that works? We reviewed some of the top apps for helping productivity, listed below. All of the apps are also compatible with our Time Timer app ® (more on that later). 

The new year is almost here, and that means it’s time for an updated planner. I live and die by my Google Calendar; in fact, right out of college I moved straight to a Palm Pilot device (it was like an electronic planner that synched with Outlook), and I was smug when a colleague lost her planner and she lost all track of her meetings and appointments.

But the reality is, there’s something about writing down goals, appointments and tasks that helps me filter and prioritize. The essentials will always live on Google, but my planner is the go-to source.

The new Time Timer ®  20 MIN has generated a lot of buzz since its release—it even won a Mom’s Choice Award ®! Parents, teachers, and business professionals are loving this easy-to-read visual timer that keeps everyone on track and on time. Here are 20 ways to use your Time Timer 20 MIN:

Time Timer ® spoke with Beth Robeson, The Picky Eater Coach, who offers 3 Ways to Have More Fun with Less Sugar this Halloween:

We recently returned from MOMCON in Milwaukee, where we shared the Time Timer ® with moms from the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International.

Jan Rogers struggled to help her daughter, Loran, keep track of time. She wasn’t old enough to read clocks and often missed the bus. So, mom Jan invented Time Timer, which features a patented red disk that shows elapsed time.

If you already have an awesome bedtime routine for your preschooler, congrats!  You can skip this article, and just share your tips with us.

For the rest of us, whether it was the start of school for our older kids or a change in sleep habits for our infant, it never hurts to consider a bedtime routine that works to get our preschoolers to sleep on time, and maybe even get time for ourselves.

The right time to toilet train varies based on your child and your own circumstances. Some moms really want that first child out of diapers before his sister arrives, and other moms want to wait because they don’t want to clean soiled underwear and spit up.

At some point, it’s time. And we’ve found that using a timer (our favorite for this is the Time Timer® PLUS) can give you the routine, expectation setting and sanity you need to move onto big girl panties (or training pants as the case may be).  Here are some of our favorite time and schedule tips:

Consider your Schedule

Headed out of town for a long weekend soon? Planning a vacation, new baby, new job, new school or major holiday? These are probably not the times to begin toilet training. The excitement of going potty is enough excitement by itself. Really, trust us. Don’t try it before a road trip or her big sister’s first day of kindergarten.

Decide on a number of days.

Tackle it on a weekend, or over a week. Set a number of days to try toilet training. You might find she’s too young, or there’s too much going with her siblings, and another time is better. But set expectations, and keep them, and give yourself a break to reassess if you or she aren’t ready.

Start with 20 minutes.

Going diaper free (however that looks for you), set the timer for 20 minutes, and then take her to the potty when time elapses.

Allow 3-5 minutes each trip.

Re-set the timer (or keep a separate one by the potty), and tell her you’ll sit until the timer goes off. She can watch time run out on the red disk, or you can read her one of her favorite stories (Everyone Poops is never a bad choice.).

Expand your time in between trips.

If she’s dry at 20 minutes, slowly increase to 30, then 45 minutes.  If she has an accident, you can reduce the amount of time in between trips, and then try increasing again.

Be prepared to try again.

If after three days, she isn’t finding success at the potty, take a break. Try again in a few weeks.

Do you have any tips to share? We’d love to hear them!  Use discount code POTTY25 for 25% off the Time Timer PLUS!  Discount code valid from September 28, 2016 until October 2, 2016.

We were honored when our friends at Google Ventures profiled Time Timer in their new book, Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. They use the patented timer in Google Ventures innovation sessions to mark small chunks of time, giving an added sense of focus and urgency.

“It’s visible to everyone in the room in a way that no phone or iPad app could ever be,” author Jake Knapp explains. “And unlike with a traditional clock, no math is required to figure out how much time is remaining. When time is visible, it becomes very easy to understand and discuss.” 

We agree that the Time Timer is a great tool for businesses and innovation, which is why we encourage you to participate in Google Venture’s Sprint Week. Just plan a sprint, as described in the book, for the week of April 18-22. By signing up at this link, you’ll receive exclusive daily videos from the Sprint team in your inbox, along with access to an online Q&A with Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. 

And don’t forget the Time Timer! To help celebrate the first Sprint Week, we are offering 25% off the Time Timer MOD Sprint Edition with the code SPRINTWEEK*. For instant Time Timer access before Sprint Week, download the Time Timer app. 

Watch this to learn more about the Time Timer MOD Sprint Edition. 

*Coupon good through 4/30. Valid only on website sales from TimeTimer.com to the U.S. and select territories.

Five Ways A Timer Can Hack your Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is a ritual for many, a way to welcome the warmer weather by purging our households of dirt and clutter. But while the end result—a sparkling, clean home—is enjoyable, the process of cleaning may be anything but fun. Here are five ways using a timer can help you with your spring cleaning tasks.

1.  Get the kids to help by making it a game.

 Spring cleaning is a great time to teach your children responsibility for their own spaces by having them clean their rooms. You can make it a game by setting a timer (like the Time Timer ® ) for an appropriate amount of time and encouraging them to have their entire room cleaned up before time runs out. Reward them with a treat, such as 30 minutes of screen time, when they complete the task.

2. Keep track of your cleaning process.

Have a cleaner, such as a soap scum remover, that needs to set for 10-15 minutes before you can start scrubbing? Use a timer to help you keep track of the time, and get the best results from all of your cleaning products.

3. Break up the day by timing each activity.

Set the timer for the amount of time it should take you to complete each activity—30 minutes for dusting, 20 for vacuuming, etc. Are you the competitive type? See if you can even beat the clock if you need a challenge.

4. Give yourself a break!

After you’ve spent an hour working, take a short break. Set the timer, grab a drink and a snack, check Facebook, relax. Or, just make sure your kids are still alive.

5. Maintain your newly clean house with weekly cleaning.

Each week after spring cleaning, set the timer for one hour, and have the whole family pitch in to clean the house. Even young kids can sort socks, or empty trash cans. Divide up the tasks, and make it a true team effort.

Need the timer to get through your spring cleaning? The Time Timer MOD is the perfect fit—available in new colors at timetimer.com/mod.