5. Allow Independent Working
Independent working is an important skill for kids to learn, but unfortunately, many parents have fallen into the habit of hovering while kids do their homework. This leads to two issues. For one, it doesn’t allow kids to learn how to work by themselves. For another, it encourages mindless correcting, where parents notice their child has made a mistake and rush to fix it. Now, we aren’t saying you can’t help your child, but they have to understand why their answer was wrong to understand the concept. Simply correcting them does nothing.
6. Do Your Own Homework
If you’re naturally a bit of a hovering parent, we understand. You want to be there for your kids when they’re doing their homework. But one way you can be there for them without hovering is to sit down with them and get some of your homework done. We know you have it. There might be receipts to organise for tax time, home budgets to draw up, meals to plan or shopping lists to write out. You might even need to organise the family calendar or write a birthday card to a friend. Whatever you’re doing, sitting down and doing your own ‘homework’ can encourage your kids to work on theirs as well.