7 Mistakes When Doing Homework with Your Children
When you sit down to do homework for school with your little ones, you may experience some mixed emotions: The joy of sharing this stage of their life, but the difficulty of carrying out this event without it ending in anger or incomplete homework. To help you in this regard, you can continue reading about the frequent mistakes when doing homework with your children.
Discover 7 mistakes you can make when doing homework with your children
Some of the most frequent mistakes when doing homework with your children are the following:
1- Resolving the exercises instead of helping
Perhaps with the good intention of letting them see how it’s done or to finish faster, by resolving homework for your child, you prevent them from learning. Doing homework isn’t limited to fulfilling a task, but also brings other skills into play and offers a variety of other benefits. For example, the development of autonomy, the ability to discover which study and resolution method is best for them, and the strengthening of their self-esteem and organization abilities, among other things.
2- Trying to get them to do all their homework at once
Sometimes, parents think that it’s better for their children to finish and then be free to play or continue with other things. With this eagerness, the homework day becomes long and doesn’t give kids a break to rest. Undoubtedly, attention, motivation, and concentration are also active for limited periods of time. For this reason, it’s better to set up blocks of work, with a time for homework and a time to rest, recover energy, and eat.
3- Failing to take the environment into account
Sometimes, it may happen that you’re delayed with your child in a traffic jam or the electricity goes out at home and you have to look for another place to solve their activities. However, this should be the exception. Ideally, your child should have a place where there are no distractions and where they have all the necessary elements to do their homework.
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4- Leaving everything to chance and to your child’s good will
According to the stage each child is in, you need to follow them more closely. Don’t wait for them to get inspired and sit down to do their homework without prompting.
Especially when they’re younger, they’re more likely to be tempted to play rather than finish their homework. Not reminding them to do so is asking for a commitment that, at times, they’re not able to sustain due to their maturity. Responsibility and perseverance are also values that are taught and cultivated through habit.
5- Doing multiple things at the same time
In a world where multitasking is overrated, it’s important to recover spaces and times that are dedicated to a single purpose. This is especially true in the case of children, who need help to develop and strengthen skills such as starting and finishing a task, concentration, or focus, among others.
6- Criticizing everything
Another common mistake is to criticize children, for example, for their handwriting, sloppiness, because they ask too many questions, or because they take too long to write. The best thing to do, if you notice that there are aspects that need improvement, may be to create another study time dedicated exclusively to practice.
7- Bad-mouthing the teachers, the school, and the amount of homework
You may find it difficult to sit down to do homework with your children, you may think that the amount of homework is excessive or that the instructions aren’t clear. You may even be right. However, complaining in front of your children isn’t a solution.
In this regard, you have two options: You can ask your child how they feel about school and the activities or go and talk to their teachers to find out more about what they’re sending home. Producing a good study environment is important to be able to complete the activity.
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Homework: An opportunity to share with your children
For many families, homework time resembles a battlefield. So, designing a strategy to get your children to sit down to do homework is key. Consequently, you’ll need to coordinate schedules, postpone other matters, dialogue, encourage your child not to get frustrated, and accompany them.
It’s not easy, and even less so with the times we live in, where school must compete with apps, games, and entertainment. However, as an adult, you can look for a positive side: Knowing your child, accessing their interests and those subjects that most engage them, and accompanying them in the discovery of the world.
What it comes down to is providing a space and a time in order for homework to become an excuse to spend time together. Finally, before sitting down to do homework with your children, it’s also a good idea to think about how you’re feeling. If you haven’t had a good day, it’s best to wait until you’re feeling better in order to avoid fights or mistreatment.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Valle, A., González Cabanach, R., Cuevas González, L. M., & Fernández Suárez, A. P. (1998). Las estrategias de aprendizaje: características básicas y su relevancia en el contexto escolar. Revista de Psicodidáctica, (6),53-68.[fecha de Consulta 15 de Diciembre de 2022]. ISSN: 1136-1034. Recuperado de: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=17514484006
