Helping your children with their homework can seem like a chore, especially if you hated doing it yourself back in the day. However, when you have children, the ordeal is inevitable, and you won’t be able to avoid it. As a parent, you want what’s best for your children and you often want them to have all of the opportunities that you never had – starting with their education. Taking time out of your day to assist them with their homework will not only ensure that they’re praised in school, but it also forms opportune bonding time for yourself and your child. In their university days, they may opt for the best essay writing service when they’re struggling, but for now, what can you do to ensure that they’re getting the most out of their homework time?

Set Out A Specific Study Time

There is no handbook that comes with having children, which is why all parents take a different approach to helping children with their homework. Some parents will help their children from the offset, and some will only intervene once it’s been highlighted to them that their children are struggling with their work. If you’re the latter, it may be worth identifying possible causes for this – were they completing homework too close to bedtime? Were they surrounded by multiple distractions throughout the duration of their study time? Whatever it is, adapt their current schedule and help them to devise a specific study time. Most prefer to get the work out of the way, allowing time for leisure activities for the rest of the evening.

Don’t Always Be Right!

As parents, we have the tendency to outline our authority and always tell our children when they’re in the wrong – it’s our way or no way! This approach isn’t always the most applicable to helping your kids with their homework though. In fact, two thirds of parents openly admit that they severely struggle helping their children with their homework, as school work has become increasingly more difficult for children over the years. Recently, high school students are required to memorise all mathematics formulae instead of having them provided in exams like in previous years. With this in mind, you should step back when your child believes they’re right instead of you. It might hurt that parent pride, but chances are, they’re probably right!

Build Relationships With Teachers

Nobody knows your child’s educational capabilities like their teachers, and contacting them about their progress in school will help you to tailor your homework approach to the needs of your child. Sometimes, children can feel embarrassed to tell their parents about topics they’re struggling with in school, but by speaking to their teachers face-to-face or via email, you can highlight these issues with your children and thus help them particularly on the topics that they’re struggling with. Plus, it works the other way round! If you’ve noticed that your child is finding a particular piece of homework really challenging, you can alert their teachers and provoke extra support at the school, making future assignments far more manageable for your child.

Encourage Educational Apps

This isn’t a direct point for helping your children with their homework, however it goes hand in hand with the principle. You can passively help your children with their homework by encouraging them to use educational apps outside of work time. Providing that they’re fun, children will still be learning and nourishing their knowledge without physically doing homework. This way, they can tackle their next assignment with ease thanks to the work and revision that they’ve carried out on their new favourite, entertaining app – who said games had to be detrimental to children?

Sure, even us parents find ourselves procrastinating from work of high priority, but don’t pass your bad habits onto your child! Helping them with their homework will allow them to progress rapidly in school and give them opportunities later in life. All it takes is patience, and if all is lost, you always have their teachers at the end of the phone.