How many times have you heard your child say, “Yeah, I’ll do it tomorrow” only to watch them sit on their assignment for two weeks until they run out of time?
Generally, ‘tomorrow’ never really comes and less than 0.5% of students genuinely don’t realise that they have an assignment due. When they do, they end up cramming the night before their deadline.
Procrastination is one of the top concerns we hear from many parents. Thing is, teenagers are also aware of this challenge. According to the 2024 research in the Child & Youth Care Forum, time management and procrastination are one of the top reported concerns of Australian secondary students.
If that’s the case, then why do our young people still procrastinate?
Student anxiety and feeling lost are the most common reasons. But ultimately, students delay and stay up late at night because they don’t know where to start or they have no plan with specific, actionable steps.
How can parents support teenagers in getting rid of their procrastination and ensure they know what to do and how to get their assignments done before the next school year starts? In this article, we explore three tips to turn your child’s procrastination into proactivity for a better 2025.
Getting Rid of Procrastination
Procrastination may seem like a negative habit that’s confined to the school and the teenage years. But it has an insidious chokehold that can affect your child’s life after school. A 2022 research from the University of Melbourne found that approximately 50% of students and 20% of adults in Australia battle procrastination.
However, that doesn’t mean your child has to struggle with procrastination forever. Here are three tips from our education strategists to nip procrastination in the bud so your child is better positioned to achieve better results.
1. The ‘Do It Now’ or ‘Do It Quick’ mindset
One of the best ways to counter procrastination is to use rapid-response strategies that push your child to just take the first step. This dominoes into building momentum that helps them finish their task before they even realise it.
For example, the Then-Do Technique involves acting on simple and easy tasks immediately – as soon as your child remembers to do it. This strategy helps alleviate that overwhelming feeling because ticking off small tasks will reduce the chances of accumulated work. Once more and more tasks are slowly ticked off, they will be less overwhelmed, and they’ll be less likely to delay their tasks.
Another strategy is to implement the Five-Minute Rule, which makes your child commit to a task for just five minutes. It’s a deceptively simple strategy to activate your child’s energy and encourage them to begin the task, which often feels more daunting than finishing the task itself. Once the five minutes are up, your child can evaluate whether they want to carry on.
2. Procrastination Focaliser
At Kalibrate-Ed, we designed a Procrastination Focaliser to help our students detect their procrastination behaviours early and self-correct to get back on track. It empowers students with heightened awareness so parents don’t have to nag them about getting more productive and accomplishing their schoolwork.
It also includes a Ramping Tasks strategy that tackles student overwhelm when their workload piles up. It involves breaking up intimidating tasks into smaller, manageable steps. This incremental approach not only reduces the stress but also builds momentum for students to continue and ultimately finish the project.
3. Map out the year
A forward-thinking approach prevents unwanted surprises and looming deadlines for your child. So, get ahead of high-stress periods and assessments by marking 2025 term dates, holidays and assessments as early as now.
You can plot key dates and review schedules in an accessible calendar to serve as a constant visible reminder and to foster a proactive mindset for your child. Ensure that their work is also paced out throughout the year to keep their overall wellbeing at healthy levels.
Preparing for Procrastination-Free 2025
Preparation is your secret weapon to fight procrastination. It doesn’t need to be more work on top of what you already have on your plate.
We know that as parents, you’ve got a lot of commitments to take care of. The end of the year is one of the busiest times. So, we designed a simple checklist to help – something easy but will prep your child for a better 2025.
It’s called the ‘2025 High School Pre-Flight Checklist’, a ‘make-it-easy’ tool that simplifies your child’s preparations, ensuring that they power down and recharge for the upcoming school year. If you tick all six items on this list, you’ll be able to close off the school year properly. If you want a copy, email us ‘MAKE IT EASY’ and we’ll get that to you.
