To the Problem of Parental Procrastination in Interaction with Children

Abstract

The practice of psychological counseling with adults who have children, and psychological work with children shows that the postponement of kid things by parents occurs often. As a result of procrastination of parents in interaction with children (parental procrastination) there are negative psychological consequences for parents and children. In psychological science, much attention is paid to the problem of human procrastination, but the procrastination of parents in the interaction of children is not studied. Available studies consider the parent-child relationship only as a cause of procrastination of the child. The article raises the problem of studying procrastination of a parent in interaction with a child (parental procrastination). The psychological features of general procrastination and parental procrastination are compared. Parental procrastination is associated with specific time intervals that require specific actions from the parent. They consciously tolerate interaction with the child often hiding behind objec-tive circumstances. Adults understand the negative consequences of procrastination, such as changing relationships with the child, reducing the level of trust of the child to them, subjective discomfort caused by understanding the negative consequences of procrastination for the child. Analyzing scientific data on the problem of General human procrastination, we develop and justify an approach to the study of parental procrastination. Procrastination is associated with a violation of self-regulation. Violation of self-regulation activities requires: a) the study of self-procrastinate parents, motivation, personality traits, emotional-volitional and cognitive spheres of personality, unconscious mental mechanisms of self-regulation; b) define the relationship of personal characteristics with the characteristics of goal setting (planning), assessment of internal and external conditions of activity (modeling), programming their actions, evaluation of the result, correction of actions and approval of the goal. Considering parental procrastination as a particular psychological problem, it is proposed: a) to consider it in connection with sociological characteristics (family composition, age characteristics of family members), family traditions, experience of family life of parents (number of marriages), etc.; b) through the system of human relations (to oneself, to others, to business; parent-child relations, intergenerational relations). The methodological unity of the categories "attitude" and "self-regulation" of activity allows us to create a holistic theoretical model of the study of parental procrastination. The model is presented in the conclusion of the article in a structure form. The analysis allows outlining the directions of psychological counseling work with procrastinating parents: work on taking responsibility for decisions in their vital activity; formation of self-regulation skills of activity; formation of emotional regulation skills.