Teenage is a time when many changes happen in a child’s life. They grow up, become more mature, and start taking on more roles. During this period, your job as a parent is to help them learn essential skills.

These skills aren’t just to help your parenting job be easier. They can be essential for your teens’ future, allowing them to be successful in multiple fields.

One of the most common skills teens need to learn is time management; there are a few ways to help them.

Encourage Them to Wake Up Earlier

Encouraging your teens to wake up earlier will help them learn several valuable lessons. The first one is that they’ll be tired if they go to bed late and wake up early. This means you are indirectly teaching them to have better sleeping habits.

The second lesson they’ll learn is that they’ll have time to prepare for school and get there on time. If you live in Music City, you know how crazy it can get in the morning. Rush hour in Nashville or any larger city is a common reason why students are late for school.

By waking up early, they’ll have more than enough time to prepare and leave home at a point where they’ll have more than enough time to get there on time.

Have Them Set Goals

Teenagers have certain tasks, just like adults. The difference is that their goals are either school- or social-related. Teaching them to set goals will help them plan their time and ensure things are completed on time.

Explain how to set up daily, weekly, and monthly goals and let them plan their own time. As a parent, you’ll be there to help them and guide them through the process, but they need to learn how to do that themselves.

Don’t Do Multiple Things at Once

Multitasking is a popular skill that many people boast about having. For us adults, it may be something we can do, but with teens, it’s a bit different. Writing homework while watching the TV is something that most teens won’t be able to do successfully.

Your task as a parent is to explain that they shouldn’t do that. There are some multitasking tasks that they can try to practice and perfect over time. With that said, as teens, they can get distracted quite quickly. This is why you should monitor their activities and help them understand that studying for an exam while scrolling social media isn’t something they should do.r

Have Them Use Apps

Considering that teens spend over 8 hours on their phones, you might as well use that time to help them improve their time management skills. One approach involves using a time management app.

Most of these work by adding tasks and deadlines so your teen can get an overview of everything that needs to be completed.

On the other hand, if your teen spends too much time on their phone, there’s a different kind of app. There are phone apps that limit how much screen time your teen can have on their phone. It’s a bit drastic, but you can utilize it as a last resort. It can be a powerful tool in your arsenal, and it’s best to use it as a last resort to help your teen understand the importance of time management.

Teach Them the 80/20 Rule

Many people don’t know, but the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, exists to help with time management. The best part is that it’s not just for teens; in this case, you can utilize it to help them manage their time better.

The rule states that input and output aren’t always balanced. In other words, 20% of the activity may drive 80% of the results. It’s also very important to explain that doing 20% of the tasks still leaves 80% of them unfinished. The rule is a good way to help them prioritize their tasks, leading to better time management skills.

Turn One Big Task Into Several Smaller Ones

Many teens find a larger task intimidating, not knowing where to start. A good approach here is to explain that one big task can be broken down into multiple smaller ones. They’ll still have the same amount of work, but multiple smaller ones will be easier to “digest.”

The advantage of this approach is that they’ll be able to find ways to break down their tasks and, thus, better manage their time. It will also help them identify ways to speed up the process and sometimes complete things ahead of schedule.

Teaching teens essential life skills can be a demanding task, but it’s worth it. Explaining and teaching the importance of time management will help them in their lives, an aspect that can help them with their personal and professional lives. 

Also read:

How Home Work Stresses Parents and Students

How to Help My Teen Manage Screen Time

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