You, Your Child and His 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.

While parents and teachers have learnt their lessons and can see the long-term benefits of studying, the children have yet to acquire such wisdom. Right now they think it is a pointless hassle that deprives them of doing fun things. Moreover, the child who finds the work hard finds the whole exercise even more demoralizing and discouraging. Under these circumstances, who would want to do 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. It is important to allocate a place for homework; it helps to make it routine. Make sure the place is conducive to working. You cannot expect your child to do homework on his lap while everyone else is watching TV. Indeed, there should be no TV until everyone's homework is done. If you don’t have a writing desk, you could use the kitchen table, and clear it of all distractions and interruptions. Of course, it is best to set up an exclusive area for homework.

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 with praise and encouragement. Express delight at every step; don’t wait till the end to say a good word. Your first goal is to get the homework done; you can think of quality later on. In fact, leave the content part of it to the teacher to correct and improve. If you have supported the homework effort, you have inculcated diligence and persistence. However, in the beginning you may have to help with spelling and punctuation mistakes.

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. There may be a specific subject that is causing problems. For that you need to see the teacher and take her help and guidance to work on the deficient areas.

8. You can help your child break up long-term projects into smaller units so that he feels encouraged after completing each unit. This will help him learn to organize and plan ahead.

9. If you don’t have so much time, you may find out about a homework club. Many schools offer to supervise homework after school. Many children like doing their homework with their friends under the guidance of the teacher rather than at home with other family members, TV, meals and all the other distractions.

10. Finally, help your child experience success rather than failure. Spend more effort in teaching the concept than be in a hurry to finish the work. If he hasn’t got the basics right, he is going to stumble and fall. The rule of the thumb is: teach him to walk; he will learn to run on his own. Don’t insist that he starts running before he has learnt to stand on his two feet. And reward him at every step.

Article Source: http://www.free-article-directory.net

Dr. Noel Swanson offers free expert parenting tips and advice on his website - just sign up for his newsletter and get a free chapter of his book, The GOOD CHILD Guide. Why not discuss parenting issues with other parents on a parenting forum?
This and other unique content parenting articles are available with free reprint righ