Like adults, every child is different. Although children are energetic, not all children are able to direct sufficient energy towards their studies. That’s where you as a parent have to dispense your responsibility.
To successfully make your children like and do their homework, you have to know a few things yourself beforehand. Firstly, some children love doing their homework, some need a little bit of pushing while the rest loathe it.
Secondly, homework is not merely a mundane task. It is just as much a learning process as class lessons are. Thirdly, some children are capable of independently doing their homework, while the rest of them are not. Fourthly and lastly, there is a way to make every child do his/her homework.
Following are five pointers that will help you make your child do his homework a little more easily.
1. Categorize Carefully
Categorize your child as someone who:
a. Loves homework
b. Is just lazy about homework
c. Hates homework
If your child falls in the first category, then all you need to do is to provide all the required facilities and there you go, you’ll be a star at the parents-teachers meeting.
If he/she falls in the second category, find out the source of the laziness or the lack of motivation.
Following could be reasons that are pulling your child back.
> Your child’s too tired after school. Perhaps an hour long nap will revitalize him/her enough for homework.
> Your child might simply be attracted to another activity such as watching television and may not want to do the homework. In this case, talk to the child in a serious yet comforting tone as to when they would like to do their homework. After or before TV? In case your child does not honor the promise of doing homework after TV, cut of TV time the next day as punishment. Reward verbally if the homework is done punctually every day, in front of friends and family whenever possible.
If your child falls in the third category, there might be something serious. Following are reasons that might make your child hate homework.
> Certain undetectable physical disabilities such as poor eyesight might make studying extremely difficult.
> Learning disabilities such as dyslexia can also make it very difficult to process basic information, making higher calculations and processes absolutely impossible.
> There might be some trouble at school. Children stigmatize their studies with the attitude of their teachers/coaches. Many times a child’s favorite subject is the one which is taught by its favorite teacher. Similarly, your child might hate certain subjects because of his negative relationship with the teacher.
> Your child may simply be lagging behind in the basic concepts. This might make him hate the almost-impossible-to-understand advanced problems/assignments given for homework.Address the issues above and try to solve them as soon as possible. Also, this list of potential problems isn’t exhaustive.
2. Make it Meaningful
At lot of times your child may rush to do a particular homework while shunning the other. This is simply because some of the work can really be very boring. Try to make a math problem or an English essay assignment interesting to them. This you can do by using your own creative skills.
3. Assist Accordingly
Keep a check on your child’s performance. Even if he/she stands first in the class, a little extra help might do wonders. But remember, your help should be such that makes your child even more independent in the longer run.
4. Parent Positively
Your attitude with your child throughout the day determines your impact on him during the study hour. Your child may be disobedient to you in general or a communication gap between the two of you might exist. Such general negative factors may hamper your efforts at making your child like his homework. So try to first create a positive relation with your child throughout the day and then use this positivity during study time.
5. Mix and Mingle
Overall, the aim of homework is to help your child learn stuff that has not been taught in the classroom. It is not necessary to make your child learn the prescribed lesson straight from the book. A lot of parents use a mix of fun activities along with academic learning. For example, my parents taught me my alphabets from random places and not from just one book. I learnt many of my spellings writing the grocery list for my mother and learnt significant math concepts playing with my father. You can do it in your own creative way!
About the Author
Mike is a father of 2, who takes care of his kids full time. When he has spare time, Mike sells online toys</a>. Mike specialises in boys toys.
