Pregnancy
Behavior Makeover: Homework Battles
Too much help?
Seven o'clock around our house might as well be called "trauma city." It's when our three kids, ages seven, ten and twelve, are supposed to start their homework. In reality it's the time when the arguing, wailing, and pleading start. Sometimes I can't tell who does those behaviors more: my husband and me or our kids. So how do I get my kids to do their homework without a world war?
– Susan, a mother of three from Truckee, California
"But you helped me last week!"
"Can't you write a note and say I'm sick?"
"But I did almost all of it. It's not due until tomorrow morning!"
Research says doing homework enhances not only children's learning but also essential skills they will need to succeed in school and in life, such as organization, problem solving, attention span, memory, goal setting, discipline, and persistence. But sometimes in our quest to help kids succeed, we get carried away and provide too much help. Or maybe we haven't exerted tough enough standards to make sure our kids finish their work as required and do the very best they can.
More on: Behavior
Excerpted from:
From No More Misbehavin' by Michele Borba, Ed.D. Copyright © 2003 by Michele Borba. All rights reserved. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Buy the book at www.amazon.com.
