To start helping children build a strong mental foundation, McCarthy, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, recommends following what she calls the "3 R's" – rest, recreation and routine. Sufficient sleep, as the CDC also suggests, can help kids' brains reinforce what they learned while awake, which in turn can help treat anxiety and depression in young people.
"Procrastination isn't actually a time management problem. It's often a mood management problem," said Weaver. "That means that if you help your kids organize their time, it may not be as effective as helping them just organize their emotions. So you might just ask them, 'What does it feel like when you think about starting this assignment?' And even them just saying it out loud, sometimes saying the feeling takes a little of the power out.
"So you might say something like 'Oh, I know you're really feeling down on yourself about math these days. Hey, I know you and you don't give up easy, but man, it's been rough,'" Weaver continued. "And notice how I didn't say, 'Oh, but you're great at math. Don't worry!' because actually that can be less confidence-building than really connecting with them.