Getting kids to do their homework

Many parents say that getting their children to do homework is a stressful ordeal. Victoria Mbabazi, a resident in Nyamirambo, says when time for doing homework comes, she has to deal with screaming, stomping, book-throwing and even slamming of doors. Lazarus Ocira, child protection expert, says homework is work, and there’s no getting around that fact. It’s a chore for both the child and parent. It’s important to understand that schoolwork is often the most difficult part of your child’s busy schedule. “Remember that your child’s job is to go to school and learn (including getting homework completed) and it’s your job to provide for your kids, run the house and offer love and guidance to your children,” Ocira says. Experts say that homework struggles begin for several reasons, but the most common one is because your child would rather relax, play, text friends, or do almost anything else. They say some kids are able to manipulate parents because they know the battle over homework may result in a parent giving up the fight to get it done. Tips to help you get your child to do homework: Be a facilitator rather than a force to be reckoned with. You can plead, yell, threaten, bribe or jump up and down with your face turning blue but none of these will make your child do homework. Your child might respond to the threats but this will not turn into reformed homework behaviour. Make peace with the reality that most kids don’t like doing homework. When there are many other infinitely more interesting things happening, especially in our electronic gadget age, it’s hard to make homework appealing, so stop trying. As a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for getting kids to do homework, acceptance isn’t about agreement with them. It’s about understanding and infusing the rest of your approach with that understanding, while remaining prepared to set the boundaries and stand by your expectations that they will do it Understand the benefits of homework. If you’re not convinced that homework matters, it will be even harder to convince your kids. There are some good reasons behind a moderate amount of homework; homework reinforces learning taught during the day. Some learning won’t stick as well unless kids give it more practice and the classroom environment isn’t necessarily going to provide adequate time for more practice. This is of special importance for math and critical thinking skills.