What to do if your teenager is lazy with academic assignments

Adolescence is not easy for parents, but neither is it for children. Social distractions, hormones, and stress can play a role in making a previously conscientious youngster lag a bit behind in academics. As adolescence progresses, boys and girls who used to do well in school suddenly … start to decline.

Your child may have attention and organization problems even if they don’t have any attention or hyperactivity disorder. Some children begin to perform poorly in school as adolescence progresses.

It is also not uncommon for a bright kid to perform well in school until the age of 13 or 14, when tasks become more demanding, at which point they may begin to show symptoms of attention deficit, without needing to be diagnosed. Smart kids can often get away with doing as little as possible on their schoolwork and still maintaining good grades, if the work is easy enough. However, once it becomes more demanding, the signs of learning disabilities may become more apparent, which could warrant a formal evaluation.

With or without a diagnosis, here are some tips that can help you with the problem of your child being lazy about homework. If you follow these tips and there is no improvement and there is a history of attention problems, impulsivity, addictions, hyperactivity in the family … then it would be a good idea to undergo some tests.

SKILLS AND STRATEGIES TO HELP YOUR TEEN SUCCEED

• • Develop a system to organize homework. You may have color-coded folders for each class, or a special section in your folder where all completed homework is placed. In this way and with a better organization you can have everything up to date without too many problems.

• • Have a ritual. The rituals will help your child to know what to do at all times. Let him write down in his agenda or schedule what his ritual should be so that in the end, over time, he can do it almost automatically.

• • Work on your daily memory. Remind her to go through her things, even if she doesn’t remember having something to deliver for a week. Memory and attention problems (not to mention hormones!) Can cloud a young person’s brain, leading them to believe they have no homework to give the teacher when they really do.

• • Keep in touch with their teachers. Talk to teachers about options to get their support and make clear requests for homework. If it is true that this is your child’s responsibility and he does not have to feel that you are the one in charge, he will only give you the opportunity to closely monitor that your child does things well, even if you do not tell him that you know it too . Thus, if he is distracted from what he has to do, you can give him a wake-up call so that he remembers what his obligation is.

• • You must have good nutrition and sufficient rest. It is very important for children and adolescents to be well rested and fed. If your teen stays up late or runs off without a good breakfast, they are much more likely to have trouble keeping up with their school work.

• Development of appropriate skills and strategies. You must strengthen the skills and strategies that help your child to be successful in life. Do not ridicule or punish him, he has to perceive you as his ally and not as his adversary.

If the situation does not improve after trying these ideas, and especially if there is a family history of similar problems, consider the option that values an educational psychologist or psychologist . A thorough evaluation should also rule out any medical issues that may be contributing to the problem of your apathy and laziness about homework.