Tips for Homework

When it comes to homework and schoolwork, I am passionate about teaching kids responsibility and ownership. One problem that often occurs is that the parent can be more “invested” than the children in schoolwork, homework and grades. When this happens, this kids don’t have to care because the parents do all the work. I teach homework tips, from kindergarten on, ways to instill this responsibility and ownership. Yes, we need to be involved and helpful, but the way we are involved matters very much in whether the child takes responsibility or not. My favorite story of success in this area was with my daughter Michelle.

About a week before parent conferences, Michelle, then 9 years old, was saying that she didn’t want me to go to her conference. She would get really upset and say, “You can’t go! You’re not going!” I was stumped. I kept asking her why she didn’t want me to go and wondering what she had done that she didn’t want me to find out about! A couple of days before the conference, we were having our nightly bedtime chat and she suddenly said, “That’s not fair, you get to see my report card before I do!” I was speechless. I thought for a moment and realized that I have always taught my kids that their schoolwork is theirs. So this was HER effort, HER work, HER job and by gosh, HER grades! I said, “Michelle, you are absolutely RIGHT! I never thought about it before, but those are YOUR grades and I have no right to see them before you do! I’ll make sure your teacher lets you see them before me at conference, OK?” She nodded and triumphantly went to sleep. I didn’t get another complaint from her and she got to review her report card (with some hesitance from the teacher!) before I did. So here are some additional ideas for teaching your child ownership of his/her homework:

https://positiveparenting.com/homework-tips/