Improving Study Habits

Our son, who is in the top 10 of his high-school class of 750, has terrible study habits, not to mention his bad time-management skills. He is doing most of his homework in front of the TV and frequently stays up after midnight watching his favorite programs. Then I have a terrible time every morning trying to get him up. How can I help him manage his homework better? I am worried about how his bad habits will affect his doing well in college next year. -- Frustrated Mom
Answer: The first step in improving your son's time-management skills is to give him an alarm clock today along with the responsibility of getting up for school every day. Mothers should not be getting high-school seniors up in the morning, no matter what time they go to bed. Your son will definitely have this responsibility in college.
While it might be annoying for you, your son's study habits are working for him. We do wonder if your son's classes are challenging him sufficiently. His college classes will be demanding. To get in practice for this, he might take more difficult classes next semester or enroll in some community-college classes or even take some online classes.