Help Your Child Stop Procrastinating With These 5 Tips

Children may procrastinate for any number of reasons. What looks like low motivation could be a completely different issue, such as unrealistic expectations or poor time management skills. People of all ages get caught up in procrastinating on projects, from homework assignments to major work presentations. Here’s how you can help your child break the procrastination cycle.

Get to the Root of the Problem

The most important thing you can do is try to understand why your child is procrastinating. Ask questions like “What do you expect of yourself?” and “What do you think we expect of you?” If they seem anxious about the outcome, ask questions like “What’s the worst that could happen if it doesn’t come out exactly as you hoped?” and “Is there anything I can do to help?” How they answer these questions will inform the best way to respond. Lack of motivation happens, but it’s more common for children to freeze up due to fear of failure.

Set Clear Expectations

Children tend to overestimate what their parents expect of them. You’ll often hear children saying “My dad will kill me when he sees this grade.” While it sounds silly in retrospect, severe punishment for small mistakes is a real fear for children. State your expectations clearly. Be direct about what you expect your child to achieve, and make sure these expectations are realistic. If your child has trouble getting homework in on time, a good goal may be setting time aside each day to work on assignments.

Relate to Your Child

It’s human nature to believe we’re alone in our struggles. Children commonly think their parents simply don’t understand what they’re dealing with. Be someone your child can relate to. Tell them about a time when you struggled to get a project or assignment done and how you felt when you finally did it. Help them understand that they’re not alone and that you’re a safe person to go to. 

Help Them Get Started

When someone is overwhelmed, it’s common to get flustered and not know where to start. Help your child set schedules and deadlines to get projects done before they’re due. Encourage them to use a timer so they don’t get burnt out working on a specific assignment. Make sure they take breaks when the timer goes off. Give them a planner, and help them use it in a way that makes sense for them, following up to see how it’s working.

Give Compliments

It’s easy to get caught up in scolding your child when they do something wrong, but it’s just as important, if not more so, to acknowledge their accomplishments. Celebrate small victories like not getting distracted while working on assignments, and you’ll start to see bigger victories down the road. Help your child stay on task by encouraging them when they do well and problem solving with them when they fail. 

At our Lake and Marion private schools, we instill leadership and compassion in our students through rigorous academics and a foundation of faith. We foster an atmosphere of care and an environment of high expectations and effective discipline. To learn more about what makes us different, contact us here.