The Homework Trap
“Let’s be clear about one thing up front – no parent should have to spend all evening, every evening helping a child do homework. Mom and Dad need time for themselves, for each other, and for their other children” (Corinne Smith and Lisa Strick, 1997 p216)
Isn’t that a perfect statement! And I love the title.
It is a passage from a book called Learning Disabilities: A to Z. The book has practical hints for parents and this article will summarise their main points about homework.
The problem of too much help
The first section explains the two problems with parents helping too much with homework. They are:
- Children will think that homework is a family responsibility when it is not. It is the child’s responsibility.
- Children will become too dependent on adult support and think they can’t do anything by themselves.
What is appropriate help?
Smith and Strick state that:
“Many kids will let you do as much of their work as your willing to do, and some are adept at sucking parents into providing much more assistance than they have planned. (p.219)
Therefore, parents should only help in the following ways:
- Enforce a regular time for homework
- Help students get organised, manage time and stay on task
- Be specific about the kind of support you will provide. You should not help generate ideas or content. However you could help by:
- Reading aloud
- Scribing
- Proofreading written work for basic punctuation and spelling mistakes
The third point is interesting to me and at the heart of the problem. Most parents want to help their children, but don’t want to end up doing too much. And to be honest, it is hard to determine what appropriate help really is.
If you would like more hints I wrote a guest post over at Parentella called Parental Involvement in Homework.
This blog was created to help students learn appropriate strategies when dealing with homework, assignments and revision. If your child hasn’t tried an idea yet, then sit with your child and look through the blog. I would suggest starting with Day 1 from the 30 Day Study Program.
Have a go at these strategies and reclaim your nights.
