I Hate Homework – What’s The Solution?

Most kids don’t like homework. It is quite understandable. They just do not see the logic in having to do schoolwork at home when they’d rather watch their favorite cartoons on TV. The sad thing about this is that parents also share in the frustration that the kids go through when it comes to doing homework. Getting an unwilling kid to do his homework could be as difficult as trying to make a house of cards beside a fan.

To figure out what to say when your kid says the words, ‘I hate homework,’ you should first understand what type of personality crop up when the homework issue crops up. Here are some of the personalities that crop up and the best ways to handle them.

The procrastinator

As the name implies, this is the kid that waits until the very last minute to do his or her homework or outrightly abandons it. The first thing you should do in this scenario is to figure out if your child understands the assignment. It is important to note that most kids would find everything apart from homework interesting. There is a biological explanation for this. The part of the brain helps mange self-control does not fully develop until a person is about 12 years old. Also, most kids do not understand how long it might take to complete a task. A 40-minute task might seem like a job that can be done in 10 minutes (until they find out that it isn’t). A way around this is to insist that no fun activity can be done until homework is finished. To better help, this type of kid understands the concept of time, set a timer on your phone to let them see how long it takes for a task to be completed.

The Perfectionist

For this type of kid, the problem is not about how long it would take to do it, but whether he’d do the assignment well enough. This type of kid is capable of doing the job but doesn’t want to fail. Many times he may start the project but not have confidence in his ideas. So he starts again, hoping the next one would be better. To be honest, this is not an easy personality to overcome. To help handle this, try placing more focus on the process than on the end result. For instance, instead of asking your kid how high he scored, you can ask him if he tried really hard and then assure him that that is what is important. Also, to prevent your kid from getting stuck while brainstorming, place time limits on tasks. This way, his attention would be shifted away from having to be perfect to finish the job on time.

The Forgetter

This is the kids that forget everything about his homework, from deadlines to even the fact that he has an assignment to do. What this kid simply lacks are organizational skills. Parents can help develop his organizational skills by close monitoring, setting reminders, and creating a homework structure that they can follow.