Every one of us faces issues with lack of focus and an inability to get down to a task. Succumbing instead to distractions or letting procrastination take hold of us to the extent that we fail to meet deadlines and generally make the side down. Things can soon slide, and suddenly your job is on the line. Adults need to have a grip, something that is best learned in youth, when there is a safety net in the form of home and School support.
 
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Putting a Lid on Impulsiveness

By the time your child starts elementary school, you will have witnessed his or her growing will-power. You might have taken steps to introduce self-control. Most children welcome parameters and boundaries, and are more than willing to accept rules. Indeed, so enthusiastic can they become, that as a parent you tread a careful line. As your small child will be the first to point out when you are doing something ‘not allowed.’
Between the ages of three and seven, the bedrock for many of life’s lessons is laid down. Do not delay, therefore, in preparing your child for the challenges of school life. Most importantly, your child needs to experience being one of a larger group. The necessity to wait for one’s turn, to share, and to listen to others. Parents play a huge role here and – as need hardly be pointed out – a failure to parent adequately can be the cause of lifelong problems with lack of self-control.

Be a Consistently Trustworthy Mom or Dad

A huge element in the success or failure of your attempts to give your child those essential self-regulatory skills is the idea of trust. Provided your kid is learning from you that the things you promise. Whether rewards or sanctions – will actually come about, then he or she will develop the capacity to make judgments for themselves. They will accept that delayed gratification beats the instant kind hands down.
It is nevertheless unfair and probably unrealistic to expect the under-ten child to remember every rule. This is why, tedious though it may seem, calm reminders are frequently necessary. Keep firmly in mind the fact that you are carrying out valuable work. Efforts now to curb impulsive and thoughtless behavior will pay dividends. Trying to impose self-control at a later age is much harder. Indeed, one of the pre-pubescent child’s most significant enemies is a lack of self-control. Governing everything from having no restraint in the face of peer pressure to decisions about drug-taking.

To be a Successful Student Requires as Much Self-Control as Intelligence

Although we are still not really sure why a child has a high IQ, we can affect a child’s level of self-control through a few key areas that are most certainly under a parent’s control. There is clear scientific evidence that self-control is connected to a child’s attendance record at the school. A vicious circle occurs, since the more time that a child spends absent from school. The less self-control she gains for managing the process of catching up with the rest of her classmates. Students similarly need to understand the importance of homework. Although (especially as they get older) they would instead be doing something else once they get home.
If you let your child relegate school-related tasks to the bottom of his set of priorities, you are helping him to become a procrastinator. Rarely a happy state of being. The habit of putting off until later one task or another, begins to infect homework assignments, exam preparation, and also just taking the time to go and see a teacher when extra help is required. Teachers are all too eager to help with time-management training. And helpful hints are everywhere to try to make education work efficiently for every kid.
A child needs to set aside a reasonable amount of his personal time to devote to school work. Parents can significantly assist the child in this by not allowing screen time or social interaction with friends until an agreed time in the evening.

Some Serious Consequence

Sadly, the child who is left to behave impulsively has a much greater chance of becoming obese, starting to smoke, and, as stated before, becoming dependent on drugs or alcohol. Future earning-power inevitably suffers, since it takes an advanced degree of self-control to endure years of higher education and internships in order to attain professional qualifications. By the same token, the unqualified but successful hard worker is just as – if not more so – a credit to his or her mastery of self-control.

Making the Task Fun

Mary Poppins had a point when she insisted on turning every repetitive chore into a game. Playing is one of the best ways by far to instill self-control. Just think of what the game Hide and Seek require players to do. Wait in the dark for an unspecified period, not making a sound. Games that require the players to freeze teach a similar skill. What was once known as “Statues” is a great example.
A really cool twist is to reverse the rules. So that ‘Stop’ comes to mean ‘Go’, with the valuable effect that the child’s ability to go against habit is put to the test. When we inhibit a person’s impulses, we are obliging them to control themselves against their natural desires. It is hence not for no reason that teachers often use drum beats, changes of tempo and color cues in physical group activities. And deliberately change what the mixed signals mean.

Be Patient

As a parent, there is a risk of running impatiently at the rather dangerous business of imposing self-control.Then expecting instant results. Fear that our child “won’t turn out right” can make us ask way too much. Building in breaks and opportunities to “let their hair down” is essential. Any activity requiring prolonged concentration needs to be followed by a break. Similarly, where chores are concerned, don’t demand that your child goes straight from one unappealing task to another. The gratification of a short break will come to mean more to the child who has earned it, setting them up to love and value leisure time as a contrast to working hours.

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