Q: How do you cure a child's procrastination with schoolwork?

A: There is no pill to cure procrastination, but fortunately time management skills can be learned. I don't know your child's age, but the younger he is the easier it is to instill good habits. If your child is in elementary school, the habit of starting homework early, right after a short snack break, is helpful. I usually recommend that the child have a desk in his own room, but a table in any quiet place in the home will work. The kitchen or living rooms are often the centers of too much commotion and easy distraction. Television should definitely be turned off. Don't sit with your child, but encourage his independence. Do review the homework afterward, but be sure he's tried his best and understood what he should have done. If children can look forward to some family games or TV together after homework is done, they'll be motivated to finish before dinner. If both parents are working and right after school doesn't work for homework time, immediately after the evening meal is best and family fun can take place a little later. That family fun serves as an important motivator and it is what children will remember as happy family life.

Long-term assignments take more planning. When the child first gets his assignment, help him break up the assignment into parts. Count the days before the assignment is due. Teach him to write a part for each day in his assignment book so he can feel he is accomplishing something every day. In planning, it's always good to leave an extra day at the end so if something takes a little longer than expected he'll have enough time and won't be late. After you guide him through the process several times, he should learn to break up his own assignments when he gets them so he can plan independently.

If your child is a teenager with regular bad time management habits, you'll have to convince him to change his habits and that will be much more difficult. A tutor or coach may be helpful for getting him started because he's less likely to resist the tutor than a parent who has been trying unsuccessfully for a long time. Some family fun times after homework continue to be a good motivator. Sometimes consequences, both positive and negative, need to be added. Thus when all weekly homework is completed and handed in on time, a movie night or increase in allowance can be motivating. For negative consequences related to missing assignments, removal of technology perhaps for a weekend can be motivating.

For free newsletters about which part of organization needs attention, good study habits, improving your child's performance with in the second half of the year, and/or why bright kids get poor grades and what you can do about it, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for each newsletter and a note with your topic choice to address below. Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or [email protected]. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.