Unless you yourself were a rare exception to the rule, chances are you absolutely hated homework as a kid. Even the most advanced school entrance exam tutors in London would in most cases find it difficult to deny that in their younger years, there was really nothing they resented more than the idea of ‘wasting’ time on schoolwork, when not in school. And if you shared their sentiments, chances are you can remember to this very day exactly how it felt to have a ton of homework to do, along with a thousand things you actually wanted to do instead.
The thing is though, while looking at homework as something of a subject of universal disdain may seem counterproductive on the surface, it pays to be realistic. Or in other words, if you accept that your kids do not like homework, never will like homework and the homework itself is something kids naturally harbour anything but positive feelings for, you’ll find yourself in a better position to help them through it.
Are you ever going to get your kids to relish the idea of doing their homework? Probably not, but at least with a few helpful tips from the experts, you can certainly lighten the load and make the whole process at least a little less painful.
Routine
For example, one of the single most important and beneficial things any parent can do is to get their kids into some kind of a positive routine. It takes some time and some effort admittedly, but if you can get the household in general into a habit where say 6:30pm to 7:30pm each day is homework time, it just becomes a part of normal life, rather than a hideous chore. By contrast, when and where there is no routine in place it becomes increasingly difficult to commit any time at all to homework on a regular basis.
Rewards and Recognition
On one hand, you could argue that as doing homework is something of a fundamental requirement, completing tasks doesn’t represent going above and beyond what’s asked or expected. But at the same time, there’s absolutely no disputing the power of positive recognition and the way in which even the simplest of rewards can inspire positive action. As such, while it may appear as if the idea of effectively ‘buying’ focus, concentration and good behaviour isn’t necessarily the best way of going about things, it certainly helps get the job done!
Effective Workspace
Kids will always be resistant to the idea of doing their homework somewhere quiet and uninterrupted, especially when there is a perfectly good couch and television set in the next room. Nevertheless, the most painless and effective homework sessions will always be those that are carried out with full concentration and no distractions whatsoever. So in the interests of getting your kids through their homework as quickly and effectively as possible, it’s a good idea to designate a specific and effective work space for them.
Get Involved
It’s always going to be difficult to encourage your kids to take interest in a subject if it happens to be a subject that you yourself find excruciatingly boring and make no attempt to hide this. It may be a case of telling a few little white lies and trying to get your head around something you probably don’t understand, but unless your kids get the impression that you yourself believe the work to be both important and interesting, you can’t expect them to think likewise.
Earned Technology Time
It’s always better to reward good behaviour than to punish poor behaviour, but this doesn’t mean that you cannot introduce a system of earning favourable returns. A great way of killing two birds with one stone, proverbially speaking of course, is to have your kids earn say one hour of technology/screen time for each hour of homework they complete, which along with driving interest in homework may also exponentially reduce the amount of time they spend with electronic devices.
Arrange Homework Groups
Last but not least, homework immediately comes across as something that is infinitely less painful and generally foreboding in the eyes of kids when they are partnered up with other kids to guide, inspire and entertain one another. Of course a line does have to be drawn in some instances where teaming up breeds distraction, but something as simple as bringing in just one of your child’s friends on a regular basis for them to carry out their homework together could make a real difference.
