Lack of time is a very pressing problem among children in today’s world. It gives rise to depression and dejection resulting from unfinished tasks and assignments.

Children always have the feeling that there is not enough time in a day. It often happens that they suddenly realise it is time for bed, and they still have not accomplished all that they set out to do for the day. Children feel overwhelmed by so many commitments each day—school, homework, tuitions, extracurricular activities, sports, projects, etc. They tend to experience a lack of control over themselves and start seeing these activities as punitive measures rather than ways to improve their knowledge and education.

Children not utilising their time in a proper way ends up in frustration both for themselves and the people around them. They are unable to complete any particular task in time and find themselves constantly chasing deadlines thereby inviting the rage of their teachers at school and parents at home. The sheer frustration sometimes gives rise to depression and serious mental and physical problems.

Therefore, the above problem needs to be dealt with seriously.

• Children feel that the number of hours in a day is not sufficient.
• Children feel overburdened by various commitments—school, homework, tuitions, extracurricular activities, sports, projects, etc.
• They perceive a lack of control over themselves and begin to see school and home activities in a negative way.
• Children not utilising their time in a proper way end up in frustration at not being able to complete any particular task in time.
• They find themselves constantly chasing after deadlines thereby inviting the rage of their teachers at school and parents at home.
• Lack of time among children often gives rise to depression and serious mental and physical problems resulting from unfinished tasks and assignments.

Lack of time in children is a behavioural problem. It is deeply related to how parents manage their own time since children learn by experience and are profoundly influenced by their home environment.

Time management is an acquired skill. If parents are unable to prioritise and accomplish their own daily tasks, children too are often seen as imitating it unconsciously. They lack time management skills and fail to make the most of it.
 

Children can learn time management slowly by cultivating constructive habits such as maintaining a routine or time-table and adhering reasonably strictly to it. Parents have a greater role to play in this.

Teach your children to keep a time diary to show them where their 24 hours each day really go. At the end of the day, add up the minutes spent on each activity. Children might be surprised to see how many minutes appear beside activities such as "Internet" or "watching TV" compared to "reading stories" or "doing homework".

Once the children know how long they are spending on the various activities in a day you can help them to start managing their time and prioritise it. Shifting focus towards activities they would like to spend more time on rather than low-reward or time-wasting activities would be a step in the right direction. The best way to do this is to create regular, predictable routines. Children benefit from routine because they can predict what is going to happen next, which gives them a sense of security about their life. Routines also make it easier to speed up the morning preparation or bedtime ritual.

Setting goals are important in time management. Encourage children to make a plan for completing a particular project. Home work is an excellent way to teach time management where you can set a specific amount of time for the completion of different subjects.

Similarly, a carefully made routine needs to take care of timings for watching television, interaction with friends, extracurricular activities, etc. of your children.

Routines are a good way to show how families organise themselves to get things done, spend time together and have fun. You can set daily routines for children for getting ready in the morning, bathing, bedtime and mealtimes, greetings and goodbyes, weekly routines for housework like washing and cleaning and yearly routines involving holidays and extended family get-togethers.

The next important thing to making routines is to make the children follow them as close to the specified timings as possible. This is only possible when routines are realisable, practical and made after due consultation with your children.

In case, you have tried all the above suggestions and still have questions on lack of confidence in your children, you can get a practical solution from Jiva. Jiva makes use of the know-how of its expert educationists and the wisdom of Ayurveda to provide you consultation for these kinds of problems. Please feel free to contact Jiva at 0129-4088152 or write to us at asksteve@jiva.com. We will try our best to give a solution to your child’s problem with our expertise.