Alfred, a fifth grader, will always wait till the deadline to get his school assignment submitted. The projects will be piled up only to be submitted late. His class teacher had written to his parents, but the situation seems to be worsening! The teacher escalated the issue to the principal, who had to schedule a meeting with his mother.
Alfred’s dad is a Senior Manager at one of the banks in the country. He visits his family once every month due to the demand of his job. His mum, Mrs. Williams, is a busy entrepreneur who leaves home for work early and returns late.
Mrs. Williams had to pay a visit to his son’s school. The principal expressed his observation of Alfred’s academic performance due to non-submission and late submission of assignments. He hardly does his class assignments and submits some of the work assignments after the deadline. Mrs. Williams promised to prioritize her activities and create time to supervise her son.
Procrastination is delaying a task that one would have completed earlier. Young people like Alfred would always say, “Not Now, later.”
Procrastination can come in different forms like:
- Someone delays a task till the last minute.
- Someone does not complete a task within a given time frame.
- An individual puts a task on hold while handling a lower priority task.
- A fellow submits a low-quality job because he did not give attention to a high-quality task.
WHAT CAUSES PROCRASTINATION?
There are many contributing factors to procrastination which includes:
LACK OF SELF-DISCIPLINE
Lack of self-discipline is a major contributing factor to procrastination.
Self-discipline is the ability to stick to a course of action no matter the feelings or distractions. For a kid, self-discipline could be embarking on specific activities such as having a study timetable and sticking to it, limiting distractions while reading, studying or doing assignments on time, attending a club meeting instead of watching TV or playing games, etc.
Parents can train kids to manage situations effectively by having a to-do list, going to bed on time, and waking up on time to study. Kids encounter a firm that distracts them from achieving a set goal. They can create a vision statement for themselves.
Yes, you can influence your kid to create a vision statement to motivate them toward reaching goals.
LACK OF PARENTAL SUPERVISION
Many parents are busy to know what happens in their kids’ lives. The lack of parental supervision could cause procrastination. This lack could be due to parents not creating sufficient time to monitor the children’s activities.
In Alfred’s case, both parents were busy pursuing their ambitions. Hence, they could not prioritize or create time to monitor his academic performance. Adequate supervision requires time. As a parent, you have a significant role in handling procrastination in your child. Parental control entails making time for your child, finding areas of their strengths and weaknesses, having discussions, and being a role model to them.
Your parenting style plays a role too. Diana Baumrind described three parenting styles.
The permissive parent allows the child to regulate his activities and does not exercise control over the child’s activities. The child sees the parent as a resource to use as he wishes and not as a role model to emulate. This parenting style cannot curb procrastination because the parent allows the child to do what he wants.
The authoritarian parent attempts to shape and control the child’s activities. The parent believes in restricting the child and keeping him in his place. The child may be withdrawn and show an unhappy disposition. The kids could do well in school since there is a rigid structure to ensure rules are followed.
The authoritative parent combines enforcement of her perspective as an adult with the child’s personality and interests. The child is lively and also well supervised by the parent. The child can internalize the skills and discipline to excel in life.
You cannot delegate this responsibility to the teachers. As a parent, you have a significant role in supervising your child.
POOR TIME MANAGEMENT
Some kids have difficulty managing time. They may go to bed around 2 am and wake up by 11 am the following morning! What kept them awake till 2 am? Probably, they were watching a movie at that time of the day. What happens when they wake up and have piles of house chores and school assignments to do? They may be behind schedule and forced to shift some tasks to a later date.
What about kids that spend several hours playing? Time for play and exercise is crucial; however, kids must assign priority to important tasks. They will even forget that other tasks or functions must be performed. They may keep saying, “Let me play first. The mathematics assignment can wait.” They assume that there is enough time to complete whatever task they have. Some kids in this category may start the assignment but cannot finish it. Some of them will not even start at all!
Poor time management leads to procrastination and can negatively affect a child’s performance.
FEAR OF FAILURE
Some kids do not start or complete a task because they fear their performances or results will not meet their parents’ expectations or that of significant people in their lives.
It is more common with authoritarian parents. They may have set high expectations for their kids. Hence, anxiety is created in these kids, believing that anything short of that expectation or goal is unacceptable. Unconsciously, parents compare the efforts of other kids to their kids. These kids end up striving to compete and outperform their contemporaries.
These young ones can get shouted at for not meeting up to their parent’s expectations. What is the effect? They become fearful of attempting challenging tasks. This fear leads to procrastination. Will you blame them for this?
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