How do you enforce deadlines?

That's a really tough problem. It may partially depend on the age of the child, and what motivates him.

I had a lot of problems with this. My son would dilly-dally all day - unless there was something HE really wanted to do. Sometimes a scheduled play date with a friend would motivate him - he knew that we wouldn't leave until he was done. But most of the time, he took all day.

When he was older, he developed a fondness for playing Runescape. When he did, he started getting his work done much more promptly, so that he would have more time for playing the game.

It's hard to try to instill that ethic - and I fear maturity is a factor, too. But as the parent, we have to make reasonable rules and stick with them. Sometimes, asking your child for help in solving the problem is helpful - they may have ideas that you wouldn't have thought of. Of course, there is always the chance that you will get a blank stare and "I dunno." (Can you tell I had that response on occasion?)

At one point, my son started rewarding himself with food after every problem was done - I don't view it as bribing him, since it was entirely initiated by him. That helped him maintain his focus for each problem. But the class he started that with (and he didn't always do it) was one of those outsourced classes, so not my deadline. (Not that he seemed to take the teacher's deadlines too seriously - which adversely impacted his grades!)

But it wasn't until this past half year that he started doing his homework (he is now in college f/t) ahead of time, rather than waiting until the last minute. When I commented/praised him on it, he told me "It's just easier to do it that way." Um, yeah - just what I had been saying for years. But I think he just needed to mature enough to "get" that concept. Calc - not a problem... not procrastinating, much harder. ;-)