How to Motivate Your Child to Do Their Homework?

“Five out of six parents struggle to help their pre-adolescent children with their homework” 

 

With these high statistics, I think you can now stop blaming yourself for being a ‘bad parent’ and instead do what most parents are doing to resolve this problem, – that is, learn tips to motivate your child to do their homework.  When it comes to raising a child, there is no training, no ‘how to’ manuals, and no predictable or controllable factors involved. Parenting is one of the most difficult, most important and most rewarding jobs in the world, so the pressure to do it right can be intense. Parenting comes with a lot of joy, but it can also come with a lot of worry, especially when it comes to homework time.  But fret no more! because I am about to give you the tips that I recommend to my clients, and that I have personally used myself to motivate your child to do their homework fuss free!

Here are the 5 Tips to motivate your child to do their homework: –

1. Understand and adapt to your child’s learning style.

2. Develop confidence in your child.

3. Improve your child’s concentration.

4. Introduce effective study habits.

5. Understand your child’s personality.

1. Understand your child’s learning style.

Is your child’s learning style, Visual, Auditory or Tactile?  If your child is an Auditory Learner, then they learn by hearing and listening.  They understand and remember things they have heard, and store information by the way it sounds.  They find spoken instructions easy to understand and learn by reading out loud because they have to hear it or speak it in order to know it.

If your child is a Visual Learner, they learn by reading or seeing pictures. They understand and remember things by sight. They picture what they are learning in their head, and learn best by using methods that are primarily visual. They like to see what they are learning. They can find spoken directions difficult to follow, and may be easily distracted by sounds. They are attracted to color and love stories that are rich in imagery.

A Tactile Learner learns by touching and doing. They understand and remember things through physical movement. They are a “hands-on” learner and prefer to touch, move, build, or draw what they are learning, and will learn better when there is a physical activity is involved. They need to be active and take frequent breaks, and may have difficulty sitting still.  Tactile Learners tend to speak with their hands and with gestures.  They like to take things apart and put them together. They are usually very well coordinated and have a good athletic ability. They are great at remembering things that they did, but not so good at remembering things they saw or heard.

Understanding and adapting your teaching style to your child’s learning style can make homework a much easier and more enjoyable experience for both you and your child. In addition to closely observing your child’s learning behaviour, the best person to obtain this information from is their teacher. I will be posting a more detailed article on the different learning styles, so make sure you join my email list to receive your notification.

2. Develop confidence in your child.

A child who is frightened of failing or of making mistakes will do anything to avoid homework. Teach your child to accept that making mistakes is a part of learning. A great way to do this is to show them how you respond in a positive way whenever you make a mistake.  And by making sure they understand their learning style.  Children compare themselves to their peers, so they are less likely to be hard on themselves if they understood that their learning style was not a weakness, but instead a ‘unique’ trait.  A child who is struggling to do their school work in class is likely to also struggle with doing homework. Making sure that their teacher adapts the same teaching style that you are doing with your child at home can also help boost your child’s confidence and reduce any anxiety they might have with learning.

One of the most damaging mistakes parents make is doing the work for their child instead of just making suggestions, instructions and guidance. Your child’s confidence will not improve if they are not given the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities.  Nor will they learn from making their own mistakes. Doing the work for them will only create laziness and dependence on your which is likely to continue throughout their school life. Setting boundaries in the early stages of their life will only make it easier for you later and help develop a stronger sense of self-confidence in your child. One way to do this is to encourage your child to try the task themselves first and tell them that you will check their work and help them if needed.  Praise them not only for their achievements but also for ‘attempting’ the task on their own.

3. Improve your child’s concentration

Anxiety can interfere with concentration, an important factor for learning.  When your child suffers from anxiety they become preoccupied with the symptoms commonly experienced with anxiety, and this preoccupation will interfere with their ability to concentrate on the task at hand.  Anxiety in children is often manifested in the form of a sudden urge to ‘run away’, aggression, nausea, headaches, and crying. Aggression can occur if they are backed into a corner and feel the urge to escape whatever they see is causing their anxiety, such as, homework or school work. If your child suffers from anxiety, seek professional help for your child, inform their teacher of their condition, and break the homework tasks down into smaller more manageable sections.  Concentration can also be affected by distractions especially for Visual and Tactile Learners.   Keeping distractions to a minimal by making sure for example, that there is no T.V, loud music, or phone calls,  will help.

4. Introduce effective study habits.

Children work better with routines.  They are already use to the routines at school so why not continue this routine at home when it comes to homework. Most children work best in the afternoon, following a snack and play period; others may prefer to wait until after dinner.  Just like you appreciate some downtime when you come home from work, so do children.  Scheduling a regular study time after they have had some downtime should minimise resistance to do their homework.  Your child will be aware of nightfall and are more likely to rush their homework or resist doing their homework if they are concerned about not being able to have enough time for playtime.  So, allowing them a period of time to wind down, relax, and have fun before doing homework will make your job a lot easier.

Teaching your child, the art of dividing homework tasks into smaller more manageable sections is a skill they will appreciate later on when they take it with them into adult life.  Not all children have a good concept of time. Have you noticed the over-reaction and defeated response you get from your child whenever you ask them to do a list of chores? You will get a more positive response if you were to explain to them that the ten tasks will only take them a couple of minutes each to complete, not half a day like they might be assuming. So, a great way to improve your child’s motivation to complete their homework is to break up the homework tasks and allocate a timeframe to each section.  Writing a homework plan that includes times and breaks can also be helpful.

5. Understanding your child’s personality

Understanding your child’s personality can be a very useful tool when it comes to motivating them, especially for homework.  Have you ever tried to motivate your child, with a ‘Reward Chart’ only to find that it didn’t really work? The reason for this is that every child has their own unique personality and as such, are motivated by different things.  Some children respond to praise while others don’t.  Some children are self-disciplined while others are not.  Some children like to challenge themselves while others do not.  The children who are going to be the most difficult to motivate are those who do not have any of these traits.  They are the children who are motivated by the things that they are passionate about only or motivated to do something to avoid a consequence.  They are the children who have a difficult time resisting their own urges, and have little self-control. So, what do you do to motivate children who have these traits? One method that tends to work well, is to apply effective discipling such as, taking away privileges, and making sure that your child fully understands the reason behind the disciplinary action. A consequence is the result or direct effect of an action.  Giving a consequence will teach a lesson that will lead to positive choices.  It encourages self-examination, acceptance of responsibility for their actions, the ability to learn from their mistakes, and the development of self-control.  Teaching children the skill of delayed gratification, will also help them to control their urges and develop self-discipline, another important skill for effective studying.  A child who learns to delay gratification will find it easier to do the things that they like to do the least, like homework, and resist the urge to do the things that they prefer the most, like play.

I hope you found this article helpful.  If you liked this content, then don’t forget to go to my blog, www. corinne coe.com and join my email list to receive more articles like this.

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