Start Finding Solutions Today, Not Tomorrow…

What to do when the Struggle is Real:

Start Finding Solutions Today, Not Tomorrow…

By Deanna Hurn, Executive Director of Miracle Math Coaching

When you notice your car needs washing, do you haul out a bucket of soapy water right away? Or do you put it off for a day or two? When your child brings homework home, does it take a backseat to “Nickelodeon” or “Minecraft?” After all, why do something now when you can do it later?

Here’s why:

Procrastination is the enemy of high-achieving behavior. Putting tasks off until later is the sure-fire way of helping a child who struggles in school to continue struggling in school. On this September 6th, “Fight Procrastination Day,” here are three facts you probably didn’t know about the concept of “better late than never.”

1) Kids who procrastinate do worst in school than kids who don’t. Professors Kyung Ryung Kim and Eun Hee Seo of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, reviewed 33 studies about academic performance and the link between putting it off and getting it done now. The results weren’t surprising: The class superstars were students eager to finish what they start.

2) More than what you say, young ones pick up on what we do. If you’re a procrastinator, your children will believe it’s ok to do their homework, wash the dishes or clean their room when they feel like it – as opposed to when you ask them.

Yes, as a parent you can force them to “do it now.” But it’s not way you say; it’s what you do. Watching you putting off your own responsibilities will affect their future behavior – and not in a good way.

3) Parents have an even more direct impact on whether their offspring are likely to procrastinate. According to “Psychology Today,” the children overly critical and controlling parents tend to be procrastinators. Such a parent “keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them.”

Children also intentionally procrastinate as a form of rebellion against harsh parents.

Of course, modeling good non-procrastinating behavior yourself will go a long way toward influencing your child. And it doesn’t hurt to talk about the importance of getting it done right away.

Check out these other tips for squashing your child’s procrastination tendencies: http://www.metroparent.com/daily/parenting/parenting-issues-tips/stop-procrastination-kid/

Miracle Math Coaching can help with procrastination. Our goal is for every student to become a self-directed learner. Such students take responsibility for their academic performance; they become their own academic coaches. They do what they need to do when they need to do it.

Miracle Math’s self-directed technique works and not just for procrastination. Here’s what a parent named Michelle said about what her 14-year-old son, Anthony, got from the program:

“Miracle Math teaches the students how to be accountable and motivated. They learn how to solve or troubleshoot problems,” she relayed. ” His grades have improved considerably since we enrolled him. His self-esteem has improved, and homework is much easier for him to do.”