“Do you want me to order you a planner, or do you want the school one?” I asked my rising sixth grader. After glancing at the rather plain cover, Ellery quickly requested an Iron Man one from Amazon because it was “cool.” She probably wouldn’t have requested one on her own, but her school required the use of planners. So, click—into the cart it went along with a new backpack.
In grade school, most kids depend on their teachers and parents to keep them on top of assignments. However, responsibilities evolve in middle and high school when kids start taking on greater ownership of their work. And it takes practice to master how to manage time well. Equip your child for success in school with these 5 strategies for time management for teens.
1. Get your plans marked down.
On average, teens in the US attend five to seven different classes on a typical school day. That’s a lot of assignments, deadlines, and notes to manage. Throw in practices, part-time jobs, or clubs, and their developing brains can quickly become overwhelmed trying to remember it all. Time management for teens starts with making note of assignments, deadlines, and extracurricular activities, like practice times, test dates, and before-school study sessions. This first step keeps your teen’s stress in check by giving her a sense of control.
Try these for planning: Some teens prefer the traditional, old-school print calendar. However, as a digital native, your teen may thrive using planning apps with built-in reminders about assignment deadlines, such as Todoist, Google Tasks, or Trello. These apps offer color coding and reminder pings. Plus, most integrate with other apps your teen may already use in school.
2. Get your priorities straight.
Executive functioning skills, including prioritization and initiation, rapidly develop during the teen years. That’s a good thing because, after writing down all the assignments and upcoming tests, your teen needs to put those skills into practice by figuring out what to do and when. Your teen may find it helps to set priorities on Sunday night and then adjust throughout the week.
Two prioritizing methods to try:
1. Eisenhower Method – Draw four quadrants on a sheet of paper. Each task will fit into one of the four:
- Urgent and Important: This quadrant is for assignments that need to be completed immediately, such as studying for tomorrow’s chemistry test or annotating one of four chapters due on Friday.
- Urgent but Not Important: These are tasks that seem pressing but don’t really contribute much to your teen’s goals, like answering texts or Snaps from friends about plans for the weekend.
- Important but Not Urgent: In this quadrant, your teen adds important stuff that doesn’t need immediate attention, such as long-term projects or figuring out what to do after high school.
- Not Important, Not Urgent: While your teen may think differently, mindlessly scrolling through social media or watching random videos online goes here.
2. The ABC Method – Similar to the Eisenhower Method, this version puts all to-dos into three categories instead of four: “A” (Must Do / High Priority), “B” (Should Do / Medium Priority), and “C” (Nice to Do)
3. Get your time blocked off.
Effective time management for teens involves setting aside a consistent and dedicated chunk of time to focus on one “must do” at a time. Although everyone seems to multitask, research shows that it’s really only effective for 2% to 2.5% of people. For the rest of us, it hinders our productivity and accuracy. One study even found that college students who multitask took longer to complete homework and received lower average grades.
Try this: Help your teen figure out when he is more naturally ready to study for a test, think creatively, or process analytically. He may find that specific times of day (or night) are best for specific tasks. Then, encourage your teen to block off those times for those to-dos.
4. Get your timer ready.
Setting a timer for 15 to 25 minutes to work on a priority can help your teen stay focused on one task. The small time commitment makes it feel like an achievable goal. When the timer goes off, your teen can set the timer for a 5- to 10-minute brain break before resetting it for another 15 to 25 minutes of work.
Try this: Chew gum while the timer ticks. It’s a research-based fact that chewing gum can increase focus by reducing stress and anxiety in short bursts.
5. Get your room clean.
Mom, you were right! Your teen really does need to keep his room clean. Studies have shown that clutter increases stress levels and decreases cognitive function, making it harder for your teen to stay on task and retain information. By contrast, a clean and clutter-free environment promotes mental focus and overall calm. This can also be an easy way for you to help your teen during finals, too.
Try this: Make it a requirement for your teen to tidy up his room before Monday morning. Remove all those dirty dishes from the previous week. Put dirty clothes in the hamper, and hang up all the clean ones piled on the chair.
What ideas do you have for time management for teens? What works best for your kid?
