It’s very common for students of all different ages and grade levels to procrastinate on homework or school projects. Some students may put tasks off because they might feel overwhelmed with all of their schoolwork; others may procrastinate if the project seems too challenging to complete. Whatever the reason may be, it’s important to be aware of different ways to help your child defeat procrastination so that they can get into a good habit of managing their time effectively and staying on track with their assignments.
We have probably all experienced that feeling of complete dismay when we are faced with a task that we believe will simply be too hard or too big for us to accomplish. I have had that feeling myself, sometimes even when faced with a household task like cleaning the windows in the spring! It seems like such a large job I often don’t even want to get started, even though I know I will be satisfied when I accomplish it.
Our students often have similar feelings when an assignment seems insurmountable to them. When that happens in my family, I try to apply the same strategies that help me get started with the window cleaning.
Here are some strategies that work for us:
1. Break the large task into smaller tasks.
For me, cleaning all 17 windows and 3 doors at once means one solid weekend of work, work, work! It is easy to put off when I think of it that way! But if I spend an hour or so every Saturday morning and just focus on one or two rooms at a time, I eventually have all of the windows clean. Helping a student break a large assignment into smaller pieces can help make the assignment become much more manageable.
2. Set intermittent deadlines.
I love having all of the windows clean before summer. Establishing some sort of timeline allows me to work room by room and still be finished by mid-June. The same principle holds true for that large assignment. Using the teacher’s due date as a guide, work backwards and determine what stages of the project or paper should be done by certain dates. Mark those dates in your student’s weekly planner or on the calendar so that they don’t get forgotten!
3. Be accountable to someone else.
For me, there is nothing like inviting guests over to be sure I finish a household project! Consider “inviting” the student’s teacher or another adult to share in the student’s progress as small stages of the project are complete. Simply writing an email with part of the assignment attached or sharing a Google doc for another person’s review can not only help the student stay on track, but it can allow for helpful and timely feedback.
4. Work with a friend.
Although this is a great way to get household projects done, this strategy doesn’t apply to everyone when it comes to schoolwork! Some students truly focus better when they work alone. But, if a student is having trouble getting started on a project, sometimes it was helpful for us to invite friends over for the sole purpose of working on schoolwork together. Even if the students weren’t working on the same project or assignment, just establishing that set time and date to work seemed to help. Plus, they got to look forward to some social time when they were finished!
We hope these tips will help your child develop solid long-term habits to defeat procrastination both in school and beyond. Do you have any of your own tips about helping your child defeat procrastination? Share them with us in the comment section below!
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