1. Figure Out Your Teen’s Style
Start by helping your teenager understand her own unique rhythms. We all have times of day when we’re able to be more productive than others. Helping teenagers identify their own productive periods is more effective than parents deciding when teenagers should do what. A key to time management for teens is letting them be in charge.
2. Talk About How to Manage Stress
Stress can be so overwhelming, that high levels of stress are not helpful when it comes to managing time effectively. There are two basic kinds of stress: internal and external. Internal stress is self-imposed (“I need to straight As!”). External stress is the result of deadlines and other pressures (“I have a math test tomorrow!”). If your teenager is feeling too much external stress, see if he can remedy the situation by starting projects and other assignments earlier, asking teachers for extensions or dropping extracurricular activities. If your teenager is the type to put a lot of internal pressure on himself, then look for ways to help him keep a healthy perspective on what’s important (and what’s not).
3. Help Your Teen Understand How Priorities Work
“There’s a big math test on Monday morning, but my friends are all going to the movies on Sunday night. Can I go too?” While most adults will see a problem in this statement, teenagers — with brains that are not yet adept at understanding consequences — may not. Parents can help improve this aspect of time management by talking with teenagers about their priorities, like, say, getting a B in math. “You want to do well on your test so you can get that B you’ve been talking about. Could you study during the afternoon, so you’ll be ready for the test before the movie?”
4. Learn to Start Early
Being late for activities, not completing homework on time, or waiting until the last minute to get ready for a family event … all signs of procrastination and poor time management skills. When parents see these kinds of choices impacting grades and causing drama, they need to step in and help teenagers learn to get assignments etc. completed on time. But parents should resist “telling” the teen what he/she “should” do, says Hatfield, and instead, try to offer some tools — like, say, using alerts on her phone or using a calendar to schedule out projects — to help your teen learn to plan ahead.