Tips for Teaching Preteens Time Management Skills

Do preteens really need time management skills? You bet they do, especially as they learn to write! Time consciousness is vital to human survival and thus, developing time management skills is important for everyone from children to preteens, as well as from teens to adults.

Addressing the issue of time management initially with children helps them to comprehend it better, when they become preteens.

The article, “The instant guide to time management for kids” suggests that being “time challenged” is a reality.

How can you teach your preteen better time management skills?

There are many ways to do this. Time awareness is important, but everyone has exactly the same number of hours, minutes and seconds in a day. What becomes important is how that time is used.

Consider the following tips.

Allocation of time:

Learning how to allocate a certain amount of time during each twenty-four hour period helps preteens to learn, build and develop effective, time management skills. This can go further, when a certain amount of time from each week or month is set aside for specific projects like writing, sports or school assignments. It can also help preteens maintain a good schedule with respect to a healthy, happy lifestyle.

  

Instinctive time management skills:

Not everyone learns effective time management skills as a child. Some children and preteens have an instinctive, excellent sense of time management, but not all of them.

How their parents instinctively spend or waste their own time can be a determining factor in their preteen’s time management skills, as preteens learn by example. In other words, if their parents know how to manage their time effectively, then the likelihood is that their preteens will learn how to manage their time effectively, as well. The reverse is also true.

The necessity of time management skills:

Why is it so important for preteens to learn time management? Unless preteens obtain those skills then or later as teenagers, when they become adults, they will not have effective, time management skills. The next generation may inherit the same kind of time management problems, which in turn may affect their lives, including their relationships with others, as well as their ongoing education and employment.

Understanding preteen’s differences in time management skills:

Each preteen is different when it comes to his or her basic, time management skills. Some preteens are better at it. For example, a preteen who practices time management skills will be familiar with an alarm clock and know how to set it. He or she will get up and go to school on time. A preteen who does not practice good time management skills will not have or use an alarm clock and may be habitually late for school. Learning how to be on time is important.

Teaching the significance of seconds, minutes and hours:

Teaching preteens the significance and value of time is important. While early time management skills obtained at home or in school can prove beneficial, there can be over-rigidness with respect to time management skills in the preteen years that can prove to be detrimental to them, later on. Remember that preteens, as well as others, still need unstructured time, as well as structured time. 

Reward and punishment:

Reward and punishment for effective, time management can prove helpful. Sometimes, gifts for preteens like watches, makes preteens more time conscious. It does not take long for a preteen to understand that being time conscious, can be its own best reward. Toys and games that involve time management can also teach preteens the importance of time. Computer games and projects can teach skills that enhance time management skills.    

In conclusion, one must suggest that as parents, teaching preteens time management skills may take some time, but it will prove beneficial to everyone in time.