Podcasts › The Parenting Pair | Teens & Tweens
Why Your Teen Is Always Late: Time Blindness, ADHD, and What Helps
What's in this episode
Does your teen constantly run late, underestimate how long tasks will take, or seem completely unaware of how much time has passed? It might be time blindness. In this episode of The Parenting Pair Podcast, clinical psychologists Dr. Annalise Caron and Dr. Suzanne Allen explore time blindness — a common but often misunderstood executive functioning challenge that affects tweens, teens, and young adults. Many parents interpret these struggles as laziness, avoidance, or irresponsibility. But for many teens, time blindness is connected to real differences in brain functioning, ADHD, and executive functioning. In this episode, we cover: What time blindness actually is Why some teens genuinely struggle to "feel" time passing How ADHD and executive functioning are connected to time blindness Why lateness triggers panic, frustration, and family conflict "Waiting mode" and why teens get stuck before tasks Why shame and punishment often backfire Practical strategies parents can use at home — timers, visual calendars, clocks, task chunking, and more Highlights from this episode: 00:00 — What Time Blindness Really Feels Like 01:36 — What Is Time Blindness? Signs Parents Should Know 06:06 — Ho