5 Solutions for Cranky Children to Make Their Homework

Telling a child to do the homework, sometimes, is an excruciating burden. Quite often anger overflows as our children are hard to be told to do their homework. They're even more fun to play with friends or computer games.

Make it a joint effort.

Be a friend to your child and not the enemy!

"Let the child know that you're his team." Said Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D., author of the book 10 Days to a Less Distracted Child.

So help him to start his homework by preparing the necessary materials and providing directions to do a "first step". When it's the way, the next step is let him finish.

Trigger his fighting spirit.

If the child is lazy to do his homework, try to give him encouragement. Don't encourage him with common or ordinary words, such as, "You're a smart kid." Try to encourage in harmony with the advantages or strengths of the child.

Let's say he's a reliable futsal player. Encourage to say, "Let's assume that homework is a ball. Dribble and insert it into the goal."

Hold yourself to punish.

Yelling, although sometimes can be a release of emotion, is a counterproductive action. Never reconcile what you want out of your child with something that causes a rejection.

"One of the actions of a very bad teacher is asking students to write something on the blackboard 100 times." Said Alan Kazdin, Ph.D., Director of the Yale Parenting Center & Child Conduct Clinic, and author of the book The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child.

Speak the right language.

Children are associated with stories, not lectures or advices. To pick up the trust, Bernstein suggested to share stories of how you used to hate a lesson.

Practice, practice, practice.

Kazdin suggested an approach to the issue slowly. The result doesn't look tomorrow, but a week or a month ahead.

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