The Procrastinating Child: A Handbook for Adults to Help Children Stop Putting Things Off

Book by Emmett Rita

Procrastination really does have a powerful impact on children’s self-esteem and self worth, and they start to think that they aren’t good enough or adequate as human beings.

The first step is, if you are in charge of the house rules or of any rules that could impact this child’s life, establish rules now that support doing chores and tasks right away, and not putting them off.

There actually was a time I was a perfect parent and I knew all the answers -- then, the first baby came along and suddenly I realized I didn’t even know what the questions were.

Choose your battles.

When you don’t have enough room for all your stuff, you don’t need more room, you need less stuff.

Most likely your child does not enjoy being a procrastinator. It’s up to you to help him or her find a different way of doing things.

Often parents are working to solve problems without knowing what the real problem is.

Children can learn to abide by rules as long as they believe they are real.

When children hate doing something because it’s a miserable job, they have the uncanny ability to spread that misery around to everyone within earshot.

Do the worst first.

Sometimes children procrastinate simply because they really don’t know how to do what they are supposed to be doing.

Often parents presume that children know how to do something because you showed them how to do it once or twice.

Children often think that many aspects of their lives are out of their control, especially their procrastination.

Procrastination carries with it a great deal of shame.

As your children develop this habit of “work hard then reward yourself”, they are learning the secret of a balanced life that many adults have never mastered.

Perfectionism and procrastination go hand in hand; perfectionism is often what keeps kids from starting a project. “Everything has to be perfectly in place before I can begin.”

Have you lived long enough to know that many of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned in life have come from making mistakes?

One of the more subtle causes of procrastination is fear that can lurk in our subconscious and has the power to immobilize us.

Sadly, adults as well as children often put off doing things because they fear that success will burden them with more responsibility than they can handle.

Adults seldom have a clue as to how stressed children, even as young as preschoolers, can feel when they spend their days rushing from activity to activity.

Tips to Share With The Child
When you have so much to do,
You think you can’t get through it,
Break it into little chunks,
Then pick one out and do it.
Take the STING out of feeling overwhelmed
Select one task you’ve been putting off
Time yourself. Give the task one full hour
Ignore everything else. Focus on doing just this one task
No breaks allowed
Give yourself a reward when the job is done
Let HONEY sweeten those crummy jobs you hate to do
How can you make it less miserable?
Only focus on how you’ll feel afterwards, NOT how you’ll feel doing the job
Name a great reward ahead of time
Expect to do crummy jobs in your life. Everyone has to do them sometimes.
Yell out, “I did the crummy job first. Now I’m free!”
This HIVE will help conquer that fear that is causing you to procrastinate
Have a conversation; talking about a fear helps move it from the subconscious to the conscious mind, and reduces its power over you.
Identify the fear; give it a name.
View it simply as a feeling; if you procrastinate because you feel scared, go ahead and do it scared.
Exaggerate the fear; balloon it; what’s the worst that could happen?
Let the Clutter BUGS help you
Break now the habit of “Save, collect and keep.”
Undertake some action – don’t leave things in a heap.
Get rid of stuff that clutters up your brain.
Stop bringing in more clutter that starts it all again.
Clear Out Paper Clutter in a FLASH
Feed your wastebasket.
Let go of papers (& old magazines, books and notebooks) that you don’t need.
Act on it NOW – take it to where or to whom it belongs.
Sit and Sort; Stand & Deliver.
Handle each piece of paper only once.
Tips to Share With Your Child to Help Clear That BUSY Calendar
Be selective; prioritize your activities; choose your battles.
Use a calendar to block out “Catch up days.”
Set limits; pause, breathe, slow down.
Yes can get you in trouble; learn to say no.