6 Steps to Encourage Your Children to Get That Homework Done


Parenting:

As the school year takes off, the homework battle begins anew for many parents. Kids don't always want to spend hours on homework when they get out of school, when there are friends to see, games to play and shows to watch.

For many parents, this is a nightly battle. They have to check to be sure that the homework is done every night, or even just about have to stand over their child to make sure the work gets done. It's hard on both parties.

Life gets much easier when you find ways to motivate your children to get their homework done. For many families, motivation works far better than punishment.

1. Set a regular homework time. This may need to be somewhat flexible to cope with outside activities, but should be as regular as possible. This time should be free from television and other distractions.

2. Consider a reward system. You can reward completion of homework within a given time, finishing homework without being reminded, or whatever suits your family. Talk over what would be a good reward, and change the rewards as the need for motivation changes.

3. Back up rewards. This is especially important if homework has been a problem. Successful completion gets a rewards; working too slowly or refusing to finish means the loss of a privilege.

4. Know how often to give rewards. Especially as your homework routine gets established, rewards should not need to be given daily. You can have your child work all week toward a reward on the weekend, for example.

5. Follow through. It doesn't matter how your child resists a new routine, you need to keep it up. Children know when they can talk their way out of something. If you can stick to the new routine, they will adopt it. A few days of battles over homework, even if the battles are severe, are better than month after month of battles over homework.

6. Be there for your child. Kids often have questions about their homework. While you want them to understand how to do the work, you can help them understand what the question is really asking or show them how to follow the examples to answer a problem. Doing all the work or even most of it limits how much your child is really learning.

Choosing the right reward can help. Extra TV time is fun for your child, as is extra video game time, but time spent as a family is the best reward. A family game night, trip to the park or museum, and so forth, make for great rewards that your child can build toward.

Stephanie Foster runs www.homewiththekids.com/ as a resource for stay at home moms. She offers more time management tips for stay at home moms at her site.


Hot Topics In Parenting

    6 Steps to Encourage Your Children to Get That Homework Done

    As the school year takes off, the homework battle begins anew for many parents. Kids don't always want to spend hours on homework when they get out of school, when there are friends to see, games to p...

    Implement Cycling in Your Family Fun Time

    Family life is one of the first casualties of the fast paced modern life. When you have two parents that both work and children busy with school and extracurricular activities, it is often that people...

    9 Tips To Make Back-to-School Shopping a Snap

    It barely seems as if the final school bell rang, and already it's time to get the kids ready to head back! With everything else you have on your plate, the idea of back-to-school shopping can be, wel...

    Raising Bilingual Children - 10 Tips for Boosting the Minority Language

    Raising Bilingual Children: 10 Tips for Boosting the Minority Language
    Your toddler may think that he or she's a complete superhero -- and when it comes to language acquisition, it's actually true!...

    Protecting Your Children From a Lifetime of Alcohol Abuse

    We all wish there was a vaccine that would immunize our children (and ourselves for that matter) from the ravages of alcohol abuse and addiction. We'd like to stop worrying about death, DUI's, and per...

    Parenting Tips C Exposing the Lies Behind Popular Child-Raising Myths

    Ever have something happen that's so unexpected you don't know how to respond? I had one of those types of experiences this week. I was walking in a public place during the lunch hour, and four childr...

    Parenting with Values - Not Your Average Traits

    Have you ever wondered, "Am I a good parent?" "Am I doing the right things?" "Will my children grow into ethical adults?" Raising kids with character can be a challenge.

    Research tells us that every...

    Children and the Power of the Media

    Media has the power to model personalities, to shape the way we see and understand the world and the immediate reality. As grown-ups we can easily choose what we want to hear, read or see; we can also...

    Parenting

    Where Do You Turn For Advice On Parenting?

    Sometimes as a parent it is easy to forget what is really important. Everyone seems to have advice on parenting, but you don't really know who to believe. ...

Most Recent Parenting Supplements

Newly Popular Health Articles

    6 Steps to Encourage Your Children to Get That Homework Done

    As the school year takes off, the homework battle begins anew for many parents. Kids don't always want to spend hours on homework when they get out of school, when there are friends to see, games to p...

    Magic Pills Do Not Exist- Even In NLP!

    As an NLP master practitioner who runs an NLP practice in Herts, I am one of the first to sing the praises of NLP as a therapy tool, as I believe it can be a really effective instrument for change wor...

    Breast Enhancement Through Breast Surgery

    Breast augmentation, or enhancement, surgery can improve the size and shape of the breasts with breast implants. There are many reasons why women may choose breast augmentation. Some choose implant su...

    Travel Insurance - 10 Top Tips

    Insurance is one of those areas that is generally unavoidable; you'll need it in some form or another somewhere along the line. For the majority of us that just happens to be every day.

    One area alw...

    How To Stop Smoking Tips

    First you must make your own decision to stop smoking; if you do it just to please others, you will probably fail. Make a list of the reasons why you smoke. Next to it list the reasons you want to qui...

    Have Sex With Back Pain And Enjoy It

    Whether sex is used a means of pleasure and excitement, or one of those "necessary evils" to keep the relationship going, sex and back pain are generally not good friends, unless you follow some of th...

    How To Remove Parasites From Your Body

    Common colon parasites that may find its way into the body and infest the intestines are flukes, tapeworms, and roundworms. These parasites, if not rightfully controlled, could bring about chronic dis...

    Nutrition, Evolution, and Having a Healthy Diet

    Avoid a diet that requires you to abruptly change your eating habits, forcing you to stop eating your favourite foods for example. Changes like that will cause temptation and make you cheta on your di...

    Protecting Your Children From a Lifetime of Alcohol Abuse

    We all wish there was a vaccine that would immunize our children (and ourselves for that matter) from the ravages of alcohol abuse and addiction. We'd like to stop worrying about death, DUI's, and per...

    How Do I Quit Smoking?

    How do I quit smoking? For good and forever? That was the question I was always asking myself, but could never find the answer. It was a real question - not theory, not wishful thi...

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Health Blogs:

Releated to Health:

Parenting Links: