Your Child And Homework

Few children relish the idea of sitting down and doing their class assignment. Many will put up some kind of a fuss – ranging from gentle grumbling, to procrastination and outright refusal.

The problem is that you, and the teachers, can see some long-term benefit to studying. To the child it just seems to be a pointless hassle that is keeping him away from doing something fun. Not only that, if the child finds the work hard, and/or is used to getting poor grades for his work, the whole exercise becomes even more demoralizing and discouraging. Given all that, what child in his right mind WOULD want to do their homework?

So, you will have to do some homework on your part before you can get your child to do the classwork at home. You need to present it in such an interesting manner that it transforms the child’s way of thinking and outbalances all the negatives. However, don’t expect your child to be enthusiastic about it, but at least bring him to a point when he accepts the necessary evil and thinks it is better to get it done and be finished with it than to go on lingering on the unsavory prospect of it.

Here are some suggestions to make homework slightly more interesting:

1. Don’t fight with your child; it doesn’t help at all, but can make matters worse. Think of innovative ways of getting it done. For instance, you can modify your home environment and routines in such a manner that encourage good study habits. Always think positive, and give more rewards than punishments.

2. Check with the school about how much homework is expected and how long it should take. If it takes your child considerably longer than that, or if the grades are consistently very poor, it is time to speak with the school. It may be that there are some learning or attention difficulties that need to be addressed. The more failures you child experiences with respect to homework, the less likely he will want to do it – this includes both the length of time it takes to get it finished, and the difficulty of the work. If, for example, a problem with dyslexia means that it takes three times as long to complete the work, then perhaps you should agree with the school that your child will do as much as he can in the allotted 40 minutes (or whatever), and if it is not completed, then so be it.

3. Create a place that is conducive to working. It is hard to get homework done if you have to do it on your lap while everyone else is watching TV. Maybe have a rule about no TV until everyone’s homework is done. Make a cleared space on the kitchen table, or a table or desk in her bedroom, that is clear from distractions and interruptions. Ideally set up an area that is exclusive to your child.

4. Your child will need some help and support. But, don’t start doing the homework. Help by way of getting him started, or to find the books or websites that will help. Teach them to find the relevant material. You can help him with spellings or work through a math problem with him. Most importantly, stay calm! You may find the problem simple but it may not be so simple for your child. Give him time to learn things.

5. Be generous in appreciating every single achievement no matter how small it is. First focus on getting the homework done, then start to focus on quality. Let that be the teacher’s responsibility; you remain confined to the homework only. Your efforts should be directed towards inculcating diligence and persistence. However, you can ask your child to read his work out loud so as to catch obvious mistakes and correct them.

6. You can encourage your child to do his homework by rewarding extra privileges, such as TV, or family treats or activities. Again, you should start with rewarding the regular completion of work, and then go on to rewarding higher grades. For this, you can set up a regular schedule.

7. All children are not good at all subjects. Your child may have a problem with a particular subject. Then, you need to talk to the teacher concerned and work in tandem with her. Let the teacher tell you how much of your help is required and provide it. Once your child crosses the hurdle, it will turn into a successful experience for him.

8. Often, the long-term projects become too unwieldy and burdensome. You can help your child break it down into smaller chunks for which you can set realistic goals and deadlines. This will help in getting the work done as well teach your child how to organize and plan.

9. Investigate whether the school has a homework club. Many schools provide a facility for children to stay on after the end of the day to complete their homework in a supervised setting. Often children find it easier to do that, than to try to fit in their homework at home around other family members, TV, meals and all the other distractions.

10. Finally, it is important to give the taste of success to your child. Failure is extremely discouraging and de-motivating. Success has its own charm; it is self-motivating and encourages more attempts. Once you achieve that, you will never have to bother about your child’s homework again.

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