Parenting Matters Now with Dr. Roger Smith
Oct 2, 2026 · 5 min · 3 segments
In this episode of Parenting Matters Now, Dr. Roger Smith explores how to nurture a wide array of skills in your children by teaching them to master the to-do list. Using the Pareto Principle, Dr…
Roger SmithHost
I was speaking to a friend this morning a- and, and described one of my other friends as a true Renaissance man, and, and what we mean by that is they can do almost anything, and that there are many, many skillsets that they have.
Many of us can do just one thing, but as we are parenting, we should be seeking to help our children develop or at least experience a wide array of skills, because you may be raising a Renaissance man in your home, and you don't know early on as to which one has the aptitudes for what things.
But here, I'll just talk about one of them, and it has to do with the to-do list.
[laughs] We all, we all have a to-do list, whether we write it, whether we put it on our phone, or it's in our head.
There's a book on my desk that's, uh, that's the title of Mastering Your To-Do List, and you know [laughs] it hadn't made it on my to-do list to finish reading it.
So I don't know exactly what's in the book, but I want to tell you a principle about the to-do list that's very, very helpful, not only for you as a parent, but also for your child.
As they make the to-do list, the Pareto Principle, which is a leadership principle, says 80% of your productivity comes from your top 20% of your to-do list.
And so looking at the to-do list and prioritizing and saying, "This is most important today, and this is second most important today," and that y- being satisfied with thoroughly taking care of 20% of your to-do list may give you 80% of your productivity for the day or year or whatever it is, whatever the to-do list is for.
Where am I to use my time, my skills, my energies, my passions? And, and look at that.
And, and as we do that for ourselves, we need to help our children develop those same skills of looking at what it is that they have to do today.
But sometimes that list makes you stop doing some things, because sometimes we are doing the 80% that is low productivity, and we never get to the things that are most important for us.
And you are the one that has to decide what is that 20% you're going to start with.
But nonetheless, managing a to-do list is a skill that you as a parent must develop, knowing what needs to be done today, what should be first and second, and then also helping your children stop long enough to prioritize their time, whether it is with their studies, whether it's volunteer work, whether it's their extra curricular activities.
There's a whole host of things that are vying for our time, your time, your child's time, and we, that's part of the training that we can give them as we train ourselves to focus on the top 20%.
Don't beat yourself up about the things that are remaining on your to-do list at the end of the day.
I was speaking to a friend this morning a- and, and described one of my other friends as a true Renaissance man, and, and what we mean by that is they can do almost anything, and that there are many, many skillsets that they have.
Many of us can do just one thing, but as we are parenting, we should be seeking to help our children develop or at least experience a wide array of skills, because you may be raising a Renaissance man in your home, and you don't know early on as to which one has the aptitudes for what things.
But here, I'll just talk about one of them, and it has to do with the to-do list.
[laughs] We all, we all have a to-do list, whether we write it, whether we put it on our phone, or it's in our head.
There's a book on my desk that's, uh, that's the title of Mastering Your To-Do List, and you know [laughs] it hadn't made it on my to-do list to finish reading it.
So I don't know exactly what's in the book, but I want to tell you a principle about the to-do list that's very, very helpful, not only for you as a parent, but also for your child.
As they make the to-do list, the Pareto Principle, which is a leadership principle, says 80% of your productivity comes from your top 20% of your to-do list.
And so looking at the to-do list and prioritizing and saying, "This is most important today, and this is second most important today," and that y- being satisfied with thoroughly taking care of 20% of your to-do list may give you 80% of your productivity for the day or year or whatever it is, whatever the to-do list is for.
Where am I to use my time, my skills, my energies, my passions? And, and look at that.
And, and as we do that for ourselves, we need to help our children develop those same skills of looking at what it is that they have to do today.
But sometimes that list makes you stop doing some things, because sometimes we are doing the 80% that is low productivity, and we never get to the things that are most important for us.
And you are the one that has to decide what is that 20% you're going to start with.
But nonetheless, managing a to-do list is a skill that you as a parent must develop, knowing what needs to be done today, what should be first and second, and then also helping your children stop long enough to prioritize their time, whether it is with their studies, whether it's volunteer work, whether it's their extra curricular activities.
There's a whole host of things that are vying for our time, your time, your child's time, and we, that's part of the training that we can give them as we train ourselves to focus on the top 20%.
Don't beat yourself up about the things that are remaining on your to-do list at the end of the day.
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