How to Get Your Kids to Do Their Homework?

That is a problem familiar to all schoolchildren’s parents! A kid does not want to do homework. You are already tired of stories they’ve not had any homework in all the subjects for two weeks in a row. You are tired of urging your child to the desk while he or she is sighing and rubbing his/her eyes.

Why doesn’t the child want to do homework?

Just imagine. You go to work every day. You work full-time. You did not choose your workplace and occupation, you were just told that you need to come here every day for many years, and nobody cares how much you like this – it is necessary, period! At workplace, you work like a horse, because for every attempt to shirk, your boss immediately reacts with a sarcastic remark like “have you left your brains at home?!”, etc.

Moreover, each of your work assignments is evaluated.

It would be fine, but when you come home, your family questions you strictly – how well you have worked, what marks you have received and what your boss said. How dare you work so badly! Your grades have gotten worse! You have become lazy, it would be nice to meet and talk to your boss…

Feeling ill at ease already? However, imagine the whole picture – you come home and… No TV, bath or the Internet! You have a lot of homework – for two or three hours at minimum! No rest until you finish all this! And the whole family watches if you are doing your homework or not!

In general, the analogy is clear.

Children rarely want to do their homework. This is clearly not what they do for their own interest and pleasure.

Motives for independent lesson preparation are the fear of punishment, a bad grade, parents’ disapproval… Well, at best, the desire of a reward – an excellent grade and praise from teachers and family.

If you disagree with me, show me a child who would voluntarily sit down at the desk after seven lessons at school, provided that he/she is given a free choice – to do or not to do homework!

Many teachers are now coming to the conclusion that homework is really tiring for children, especially younger ones. The child does not do homework not because he/she is a bad or mediocre student – there is, in fact, no reason why he/she should want to do it.

The “carrot and stick” motivation during all school years is not the best way to develop a thirst for knowledge!

How to get the kids to do their homework? Do we need to force them?

In fact, education systems without homework have been already developed in some schools. The entire program is meant for mastering at school. Theoretically, it is a good idea – no messing around with lessons at home, parents get fewer problems, and the child has free time for rest, recreation, visiting special clubs, etc.

In practice, it is not perfect.

The whole class cannot learn the material equally well, because all children are different. Well, a few A-students are likely to keep pace but the majority won’t. Someone will sit through the lesson without saying anything or understanding the new material, and the teacher will not have time to notice this. Students will start lagging behind and finally miss a lot, but it will not turn out immediately!

Most parents and schoolteachers confirm that children need time to work on new material independently or with the parents’ help. Someone should write dictations, someone – master algebra, someone – learn history.

In general, attentive moms and dads should keep track of the subjects which require additional work, and work on them!

If you see that the child does not do homework, try to find out why – if he/she is just lazy, tired, or really has difficulties and is trying to avoid them.

No need to make your child do the lessons he/she already understands. However, everything that is not clear must necessarily be identified and worked on – either using textbook exercises or more understandable examples, let it be either more or less than was assigned as homework.

In the end, think what goal is more important – to swat and do all the assigned tasks for the years of studying, or to make the child really understand the material, remember it and be able to use real knowledge?

How can you help your children with studies and get them to do their homework themselves?
The child should clearly know that parents control what has been assigned and how he/she does it. At the same time, in order not to become domestic tyrants, never scold the child for doing something wrong or misunderstanding.

Help the child grasp the difficult material! Let him/her understand – it is better to show the parents that he/she has understood the material so that they do not give him a lot of additional tasks rather than trying to cheat them that there has been no home assignment. The child should know that parents will not scold him/her for poor performance, but only help to catch up!

Let schoolteachers evaluate, and parents only help with studying!