4 Effective Ways to Instill Time Management Skill for Exam Time

Few children can actually use time effectively to learn and achieve good grades. The mad chase for grades makes us parents go all out to make our children slog it out.  But if we come to think of it, perhaps what we miss out on is coaching them to study smart. The magic mantra is time management – you can coach your child to use time effectively to complete tasks on time and "be exam smart".

I have observed this time and again: A child works tirelessly for hours and still fails to achieve results that match up to the hard work. So sitting for long hours does no wonders. Children need specific skills to use time effectively and we, as parents, need to help them develop these skills. As you begin this process, remember this: Be patient. If you stay strong and steady in your efforts, your child will thank you for it in years to come.

Handy How to Teach Time Management Skills/Tips to Your Child

So what can you do as a parent? Suggest putting a few time management strategies given here, that would help your kids study smart rather than study hard

1. Help Child to Develop a Study Routine

She can change the time and place according to what best works for her, but the key lies in getting started with a routine in place – how to start the day and how to plan the activities as per the hours. Sit with your child, take your child’s inputs and make a time table. Try it out for a week, see how your child is doing and make adjustments if required.

2. Coach Child on Taking Small Breaks& Build Rewards

Coach your child on taking small breaks in between and also build rewardsfor your childwhen s/he has completed a task within the given time frame. This could be as simple as a big hug, a pat on the back, or “I am so proud of you”.

3. Encourage Your Child to Discuss Various Strategies

Encourage your child to discuss ideas with friends, elder sibling or with you on how to be more time efficient. Let your child take responsibility and make an action plan which is goal oriented. This could be as simple as “I shall go after the question which I am most confident about first, followed by the others”. Simple, but effective!

4. Devise Interesting Tasks to Foster Your Child’s Learning Ability

If you find your child taking up to this slower than you expected, you can make an action plan and devise interesting tasks to challenge the child's learning abilities, adding fun to it. This would make learning fun.

Tips to Coach Child To Be Prepared for Unexpected Events as Well 

Remember to coach your child to be prepared for unexpected events (things that prevent the child from sticking to the time table, such as a birthday party or a sports event).

When your child is ‘time wise’, there will be no need for frantic cramming up before exams and s/he will also gain the skill of completing the exam within the time frame. Apart from this, I feel that smart time planning also helps the child to: 

• Be organised
• Set goals
• Prioritise tasks
• Avoid stress/ last-minute panic
• And the best – get moreplay time too!

While putting time management strategies in practice, schedule time for the much-needed breaks in between. Also, a word of caution: Giving your child to much to do in a stipulated time frame may have the opposite effect – sloppy work, less focus (due to excess pressure) and procrastination.

Hope that these tips would help you in coaching your child to divide time effectively and keeping stress at bay. Also do share what you are already doing to make your child study smart – your tips can help other parents! Look forward to reading them in the comments.

Check: Exam Time Advices, Tips

Disclaimer: This blog is a special initiative to support parents in helping their child during exam time – Bano Exam Ready powered by Horlicks.