Richard Rooney M.D, on Tips for Helping Your Child With Homework

Homework is an activity that generally has a love/hate relationship with both students, and parents. While the purpose of homework is to help a student apply what they’re learning in class, it can sometimes come with significantly difficult for children and their parents to complete. If you see your child is struggling with daily tasks and assignments, here are a few ways you can involve yourself and help them improve.

Establish a Comfortable Space
One of the most important things to do when preparing for homework time is making sure you and your child have a comfortable space with good lighting, a clear workspace, and limited to no interruptions. You want to provide your child with an area where they can focus, and have limited distractions. This will help them do their best work while teaching them to work more efficiently and manage time better. Try an organized desk set up in their room, or even a space in the kitchen. Any area is okay, as long as it eliminates regular distractions.

Get it Done Early
Everyone has their preferences; however, a great time to do homework is not long after your kids get home from school. To create healthy habits and patterns by setting a “homework time” early enough for everything to get completed well before bed. This eliminates stress and provides extra time if an assignment is more difficult than anticipated.

Build Confidence
If you’re child struggles with getting homework done, it’s important to try and keep their confidence up. There may be assignments they don't understand fully or problems they’re struggling to find the answers too; this can often result in feeling discouraged and may make your child feel unmotivated. Use positive reinforcement, and try to keep frustration at a low level.

Don’t Hand Out Answers, Help Find Them
When you find your child is struggling, it’s easy to want to hand them the answers to rid them of their frustrations. Rather than feeding them the answers at the first sign of struggle, help them use their resources, such as their textbook or the internet to find the correct answers. This will teach them problem-solving skills, while fostering independence.

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This article was originally published on richardrooneymd.org

About the Author

Richard Rooney M.D. is a board certified orthopaedic spine surgeon who works in Seattle, Washington at his own private practice. He resides in Seattle, WA with his wife and two sons. Throughout his career, Richard Rooney M.D. has distinguished himself as a renowned orthopaedic surgeon. He truly loves the immersive nature of his work and the fact that he's able to help people live better, less painful lives. Through his practice, Seattle Spine Group, Richard focuses on treatment for back pain, neck pain, radiculopathy, and sciatica. They recently introduced an entire spectrum of spine care and stem cell therapy care with a focus on disk replacement.

When Richard Rooney M.D. isn't busy at work as a spine surgeon, he likes to spend his time outdoors with his wife and sons, enjoying all the natural and manmade beauty that his home state of Washington has to offer.
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