Helping Your Teen With ADHD Manage Time: Tips for Tackling Time Blindness

For teenagers with ADHD, this time of year can feel particularly overwhelming.

That’s why this week at ADHD Next Steps, I want to focus on a common challenge many parents share with me: helping their teenager with ADHD manage time, handle transitions, and cope with time blindness.

Why do teenagers with ADHD struggle with time management?

If your teenager often loses track of time, gets stuck in tasks, or seems unable to switch gears between activities, it’s not a reflection of laziness or defiance. It’s actually linked to how ADHD impacts their executive functioning skills and working memory. Here’s why time management can be especially difficult for teens with ADHD:

• Executive functioning is still developing — including the ability to estimate how long something will take or how much time is left.

• Many teens with ADHD experience life in a kind of “now” or “not now” mode. If something isn’t happening right now, it can feel distant or unimportant.

• All teens are learning to manage time, but ADHD makes this process trickier because of brain differences that affect planning and organisation.

• When they’re bored, overwhelmed, or hyperfocused, teens with ADHD can lose track of time entirely.

• Working memory difficulties mean it’s hard to keep track of “I have 10 minutes, so I can do X and Y before I need to leave.”

  
  

How to support ADHD time management: practical tools that help

Parents often ask what they can do to help. The good news is, there are simple strategies and tools that can make a big difference for teens with ADHD.

These supports can help with time blindness, smoother transitions, and less family conflict:

✅ Use visual timers or clocks - Tools that show time passing (like sand timers or apps with a visual countdown) can make time feel more real and easier to manage.

✅ Set reminders or alarms at regular intervals - These can help break up tasks and support smoother transitions between activities.

✅ Break tasks into smaller, clearer steps - This reduces overwhelm and builds confidence.

✅ Try body doubling - Having someone nearby while your teen works (even if they’re doing their own task) can help with focus and transitions.

Why scaffolding builds future independence

One worry I hear from parents is: “Am I doing too much for them?” The answer is no. By putting supports like timers, reminders, and routines in place, you’re building the scaffolding that helps your teen eventually take over these skills themselves.

ADHD affects executive functioning, and that’s why extra support is needed — not because your teen can’t learn time management, but because they need help building that bridge. You are doing the right things by offering this scaffolding.

One app I recommend: Time Timer

If you’re looking for a place to start, I really like the Time Timer app (free for basic features). It’s designed for neurodivergent users, showing a visual countdown that helps teens with ADHD externalise time. Many families find this helps transitions go more smoothly, as it’s the timer (not the parent!) setting the boundary.

If you prefer something physical, Time Timer also make clocks that work on the same principle.

Final thoughts

As the school year winds down and summer approaches, small tools like these can help your teen (and your whole family) navigate the busyness with a little more ease. If you give any of these tips a try, I’d love to hear how you get on!