It's hard to say who is busier, Cathy Lee Chong or her children, especially her daughters, who are juniors at 'Iolani School. Homework in their college-prep courses and their passion for the theater could easily derail the best of plans, but the twins have learned to budget their time — from the moment their alarm sounds at 5:20 a.m. to lights out some 18 hours later.

"So far they seem pretty good about juggling things," Chong says. "They write everything down, and we communicate a lot."

With so much in life dependent on the ability to balance competing interests, time management may be one of the most important lessons parents can teach their teens.

The skill is something that the Kaimuki mother's older twins, now 17, have honed since the seventh grade, when they also were involved in after-school sports, she says. Chong, director of communications at 'Iolani, might also qualify as an expert on managing well: While shepherding the twins around, she has another set of twins, boys, in kindergarten.

The girls aren't in sports anymore, but filled their time this fall with a school play and a class assignment to work 10 hours for a political campaign.

Mom, who drives a van, was the family's department of transportation.

"I think it brings the family closer together," Chong says. "We are all in it together. This whole craziness."

Because today's students are busier than ever, they need a strategy, says Tracy Kimura, director of counseling at 'Iolani.

"Time nowadays is so precious to everyone," she says. "I think students struggle on a daily basis with how to manage themselves and their responsibilities."

Without some way to prioritize, teenagers can feel overwhelmed by a situation they cannot control, she says.

"I do think that it is difficult for adolescents to figure out those things on their own because it takes some structure and it takes some will power to be able to do things that maybe are not first on your list, but need to be done," Kimura says.

In the end, a time-management plan does not create an overly regimented life, Kimura says. Instead, it creates more flexibility.

"When we say plan, we don't mean regiment yourself to the minute but put yourself on a course that will give you the satisfaction that you want," she says. "It is about being purposeful."

For Chong's daughters, being busy is a choice.

"I think when they want to do something, when it is their passion, like the performing arts, they will stay up late to do their homework," she says.

But parents are a key part of the time-management equation, Chong says.

"Every once in a while they say, 'I am tired and stressed' and we have a long talk about it," she says. "We can't do it all. You have to do what you can. You have to try and find a balance."