How to Motivate Your Child (continued)

In order to effectively monitor your child’s homework you need to know what to expect. Check with your child’s teacher about the school’s homework policy and find out how much and how often homework is expected at your child’s grade level. Based on surveys of students and teachers from across the country, you should expect your child to have some homework to do each week. You should expect the number of nights and the amount of homework to increase as your child progresses from elementary to high school (see table below). If your child is spending more or less time than is expected on homework, check with your child and the teacher to find out why.

Tip #5: Do not help your child do his homework

This tip has to do with your role concerning homework. The trend in schools today is for parents to be involved with their children’s schooling. However, what role should you play in your child’s homework? A national survey of school district policies showed that schools most often recommend that parents play a supportive role rather than a teaching role. The purpose of homework is usually to give students a chance to practice skills already taught in school. You should not have to tutor your child or help him complete his homework. Helping your child do homework may increase his dependency on you. Your goal should be to provide your child with the support he needs to complete his homework on his own. Many of the tips discussed in this handout are suggestions on how to you can provide your child with support.

Tip #6: Be supportive and encouraging, avoid criticism and punishment

Your general approach with your child around homework should be positive. Avoid using criticism or punishment to try to get your child to do her homework, these strategies will work against what you are trying to accomplish in the long run. You want your child to approach new challenges with confidence in her abilities, to have a feeling that she has control over her learning, and to be proud of her accomplishments. These goals are accomplished through being supportive and encouraging over time. When problems arise, your job should be to understand the problem and come up with solutions.

Tip #7: Praise efforts and independence

Parents should make a special effort to give their children frequent praise for the effort that they put into homework and their attempts to work independently. Praise effort and independence, even if they don’t get everything correct the first time. A general rule for using praise is to do it often, immediately, and powerfully. A powerful praise is one that is given in a warm tone of voice and includes a statement letting the child know what it is you are please with. For example, “I really like how you worked hard on your homework tonight! And you did it all by yourself! I am very proud of you!” Frequent praise that is related directly to children’s effort and independence can produce in them positive emotions, confidence, and an increased sense of control over learning. When this happens, children are likely to independently put forth effort and persist at new learning challenges.

Tip #8: Monitor your child’s daily homework

One of the ways that you can communicate to your child that homework is important is by asking him about it each day. It may be necessary for you to review the assignment with your child before he begins the assignment to make sure he understands what he is supposed to do; however, you should not sit with or help him throughout the assignment.

Tip #9: Check your child’s completed homework for neatness and accuracy and give feedback

When the assignment is done, check it for neatness and accuracy. Messy work should be redone. If errors are found, have your child correct them. For younger children, show them which items are incorrect and have them correct them on their own. As they get older, you can give them more general feedback. For example, you can tell your child how many errors you found on a page or in a set of items, without telling her which ones are incorrect, and have her find and correct them on her own. This will give your child practice in proofreading and checking.