Helping kids with their homework can be a nightmare especially if you are a working mom. There are times when all you want to do is lie down after a hard day’s work but no, you have to go help your kids with their school work.
For most parents, this can be frustrating as hell especially when you have been working for most of the day and would just like to rest. Still, there are things that you really have to do and this is one of them. Although you can always hire a tutor to fill in the job for you, teaching your kids yourself will help you bond with them and at the same time establish some form of trust. Parents who work with their children are much closer to their kids and are seen as more dependable. Children will learn to turn to you for help when bad things happen in their lives.
But helping them with their homework does not only involve teaching them the basics and helping them understand their lessons. It involves valuable lessons in life that they should be able to learn in order to become responsible adults. Homework is after all not just something that teachers give just for the heck of it. It’s not even something that thye give to encourage children to open their books and study (in fact for most of the time, it actually does the opposite). It is given to children to help them experience work and responsibility. Doing homework is created in order to teach kids that work is a part of life. When something is given to them, it is their duty to accomplish it the best that they can, no half measures.
Here are some of the things that parents should remember when helping their kids study.
- Don’t do their homework for them
Finishing the homework yourself is a nono because it defeats the purpose of the whole thing. Home work should be something that kids themselves do because it is their responsibility. Accomplishing the homeworks yourself will only show your kids that it is okay to not do their duties and that they can escape from their responsibilities if they want to. - Be careful with the rewards.
It is good to occasionally give your children rewards for a job well done. This will motivate them to work harder. But if it is done all the time, they will only feel that they can
Thus, it is important that you balance your reward system and make sure that your kids do their work not because of the reward alone but because they strive for excellence and want to do their best. You can foster this by giving them the freedom to make decisions and to value their work. When they place value in their work, they will learn to value their efforts and have that motivation to constantly do their best in everything.
Homework however should not be taken so seriously even if it is a serious thing and crucial to your children’s development as hardworking and responsible individuals. They should also be able to find the fun in doing their assignments. That way, they can discover that there are ways to enjoy work despite its difficulty.
