Avoiding the Homework Headaches

Moving into autumn and winter always brings a resurgence of routine and structure to families that was often absent during the lazier days of summer.  Usually it is getting back to school that prompts the return of rhythm to the day.  The school day regime is often a struggle to get back into.  For lots of children the homework habit was well and truly lost and so it too requires effort to get it going again. 

Having a set plan for the evening that includes sitting down to homework is an important first step.  The regularity of having a “homework time” that is set every day means that getting started on homework becomes more of a habit and that makes its completion so much easier.  The earlier you start it the more energy they will have and the less their exhaustion will lead to grumpiness and refusal. Generally, with younger children it is a good idea to sit them at the kitchen table where you are able to keep an eye on them and assist them as necessary.  As they get older though they may find the kitchen to be too distracting and so having a desk in their own room might be the solution.

An adult’s attention span is about 20 minutes and a child’s can be much shorter.

If you find that your child is very easily distracted then try to structure the homework time so that other children are occupied elsewhere or that you don’t have other jobs that you need to be doing and so can stick with them to help keep them focused.An adult’s attention span is about 20 minutes and a child’s can be much shorter.  So don’t expect your child to sit and work without regular breaks.  With younger children time their work periods for about 10 minutes (or shorter if they don’t even last that long) and then give them a short break.

Procrastination can start early with children avoiding beginning because they feel overwhelmed by the amount to be done. 

When your child looks at the list of work to be done in their homework notebook it can be very off-putting.  Procrastination can start early with children avoiding beginning because they feel overwhelmed by the amount to be done.  You can help by breaking down the homework tasks and presenting each part of it separately to your child.  So just take out one book at a time for them rather than piling up all the books needed for all the homework.

Attempted homework is better than no homework done at all.

Sometimes children (especially young children and those with concentration difficulties) like to be challenged to see how fast they can achieve a piece of homework or to see how much of the work they can do in a specified time.  So pull out the stopwatch and make a game of it.The process of simply doing homework is more important than what homework was done.  To get your child feeling good about doing their work you need to acknowledge the effort they put in rather than whether they achieved it all or got it all right.  Attempted homework is better than no homework done at all