Help in Homework

There are kids who can work by themselves while there are others who need constant guidance. If your child is the basic type 1 personality, you will not have any problems with their school work. You can leave them with virtually all kinds of work and they will be able to do it on their own or at least start on them when you are not there. There is no need to constantly remind them to do their home work or help them accomplish it.

It is a different story if you have children who are basically not a go-getter or an achiever. These are the kids that you first have to motivate and then guide through all the process until they get into the groove of things and it becomes their routine. A lot of the things that they do must be something that they want to do. Otherwise, they will not do it. This is so unlike the Type 1  personalities who needed only one reason, they have to do it. It is their responsibility.

This is actually the prime reason why teachers give home works in school. It is not because they want kids to still study their lessons even after school. It is not because they want to give them additional work and make their lives miserable. They give assignments because they want kids to learn about the value of hard work and learn how to be responsible about something. They need to learn at an early age that life is not all about playing and having a great time, that if they want to enjoy, they must first work hard for it and strive for it.

Unfortunately, this is not the message that parents often give to their children especially those who need them the most— those who need to motivated. Because of their frustration with their children’s attitudes or maybe their inability to deal with these kinds of behavior, they will just finish their children’s assignments themselves while showing them how to do it. Although this can work sometimes, doing this all the time will rob children of their own ability to make decisions and work on their own.

Worse, this will teach them that they can pass to other people their responsibility if they don’t want to or if they throw a tantrum. It will show them that life can be easy for them because they can depend on other people for their own needs and responsibilities.

Some parents on the other hand depend on rewards and material things to cajole and motivate their children to doing the work. What their mistake is into thinking that motivation should come from something external to a person like rewards or even praises. The truth is motivation to do something or accomplish a task should be internal. It needs to be an innate need to do something good or to do one’s best. The external reward is just a bonus. Just ask achievers in history and they will tell you about this.

How you help your child with their home work will impact their lives a lot and their future. This is especially true with kids at such a young age, where lessons are being learned. Check what you are doing to your child right now in terms of helping them with their homework. See if you can change it.