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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.
