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Expert Q&A
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| By Elizabeth Pantley Child Behavior Expert Better Beginnings, Inc. | ||
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How can I help my fifth-grade daughter develop better homework and study habits? She occasionally forgets to bring home her assignments or books.
Give your daughter responsibility and ownership of her homework.It should be clearly understood that homework is her job and one of her priorities. Itų your job to create an environment that is conducive to getting homework done, and to act as a manager and a coach. DonŴ hover or get overly involved with the actual work, because the more responsibility the parent takes, the less the children will assume themselves.
Establish a regular time and place for homework to be done. As an example, immediately after the dinner dishes are cleared and the kitchen cleaned, the routine is to bring all homework to the kitchen table. In order to maintain the pattern, and thus create a habit, when the child has no homework the time can be used to read or write letters or thank you notes. If a specific sports or music lesson occurs at that time a few days a week, have a specific alternate time for those days.
Create a pleasant homework environment. Make sure the table is clean and clear, have ample supplies at hand, have a healthy snack and a beverage included. Avoid using this time to reprimand, nag or complain. Some children work better with quiet music playing in the background or a window open for fresh air. Some kids are easily distracted and need absolute quiet. Try to figure out what works best for your children. It may not necessarily be your preference, but choose the best environment to suit your childų personality.
Avoid homework-related rewards and punishments. These take the focus away from the learning process and create additional stress as your children try to avoid the punishment or earn the rewards. Or, even worse, your child decides the punishment isnŴ so bad, or the reward isnŴ so great, so she continues to march to the beat of her own drummer.
Once your daughter has developed good homework habits you'll find that she will be more organized about her work.
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