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What’s the point of homework?

Enjoy the video above or if you would rather do some reading lets dive into one of the main pain points families have… HOMEWORK! We have all seen the after school meltdowns the desire to just decompress, play, have screentime, or play sports. The reality for many but not all kids is that they will have some homework to get ready for another day of school.

So what is the trick? How do we avoid the power struggle and keeping kids on track?

Like most things in life, there is not a generic silver bullet but there are some tools and perspectives that we can play with to set our selves up for a higher probability of success. Let us look at a few perspectives that can help your family succeed in the face of the homework blues. The nice thing is these tools can be used by kids and adults of any age, and often to address other issues as well.

The main advice we give at Amazing Brains is to come from a place of connection when they are holding boundaries or just having a conversation with their kid. We need to get honest about connection as an approach it is a presence that takes practice, patience, and commitment. We will not always have a good connection during conversation and this is ok. More on this in a later blog post, for now, we need to focus on how to support your child’s homework habits.

Here are a few experiments that you can use with your family to see what works.

Create an after school routine this should include some variation of the below

  • A review of the day
  • A healthy snack and some water
  • Nature time for a minimum of 20 min
  • Exercise for a minimum of 20 min
  • Set up a study place to get work done
  • Turn off all distractions and work for a preset amount of time regardless of motivation

Set clear expectations as a family this needs to be a dialogue that includes your child’s hopes and goals. The more they are bought into their goals and the consequences if they are not met the easier it will be for them to stay on track! Serious you may be surprised and how strict your child’s select boundaries might be. Don’t be afraid to back them off.

Find an organization system that works This will be different for everyone to help your kid explore how they keep track of todo items, practices, and long term projects. There is no right way to do this just help them experiment to see what works and to tweak it as needed.

These are some basic tips to get your child on the right track with homework this year. There can be a variety of family dynamics, psychological, and neurological obstacles that can make doing homework much harder than one may think. PLEASE take your child’s frustrations and challenges seriously the earlier they are addressed the less painful the experience will be for everyone! If you are interested in learning more about your child’s brain Amazing Brains has some great tools from stress tests and brain maps to neurocognitive assessments. Reach out if you have any questions or want to work through some more strategies to help your family live your best life!