How Can Busy Parents Help the Child to Finish His Homework?

Priority – Time management

My child only interested in playing when he comes home from school. He will do his homework last minute and do not have enough time to finish. How can busy working parents help?

Time management and prioritising are probably 2 key areas children find difficult, or challenging to handle. When left on their own to figure out, our children tend to get lost. It is therefore necessary for parents to work with thier child, to help him learn how to manage his time, and to prioritise his homework.

In guiding the child through these issues, it is important for parents to have a discussion with their child on when is the best time to study. For example, when does the child feel more alert and energetic? Is it before dinner, or after dinner? Thereafter, work with the child to choose a designated place to study, to develop consistency.

Once the time and study area have been identified, parents need to help the child through in the next step, which is to prioritise his homework. Which homework should he complete first? Should he start off with English comprehension, something he enjoys doing in comparison, or Math problem sums (a subject he does not really fancy)?

In prioritising homework, parents got to be mindful of the time and duration when the child’s mind is still fresh and alert. Naturally, most children will immediately dive into the subject they enjoy first (in this example, comprehension) and by the time they complete it, they would have become physically and mentally tired. Nevertheless he is now faced the challenge to complete his Math problem sums – something which he dreaded. It is therefore, very likely for the child not completing his Math homework.

So when it is a matter of prioiritising homework, parents should encourage their child to start off with the subject which he finds most challenging first, when his mind is fresh and alert, so that the challenge to complete does not seem overwhelming. Upon completing the more challenging homework, he can take a short break and move on to something which he enjoys doing (in this example, comprehension), before he is done for the day.

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My Child is Always on the Computer, How to Get Him to Talk to Me?

Communication

My teen only talks to his computer. How can I get my teen to talk to me?

What do you have in common? We need to find out what we have in common with our children. Because right now they are captivated on the computer because they don’t see anything else that’s more exciting.

So as a parent, that gives us a creative opportunity of what can we do to be more exciting to engage our children. So one, is again we are back to communication. Look for avenues and opportunities to spend more time. What’s lacking is there’s not enough bond, so our children look for other outlets. So family time is so crucial.

We have to create that relationship where spending time with our parents, our family is just as important. Not more, not less, from a teenager’s point of view. If we tell our teenager, prioritise, your family is more important than the computer, that’s very very challenging. So neither do we want the computer to be more important than the family.

So the idea here is engaging. So if we can create, most teenagers love outings, and for boys, opportunities to go out for meals, that’s the only time your teenager will switch off his computer, because his stomach is calling for him. And then the relationship that we have, again what we tend to do as parents, when we have alone time with our children is to start interrogating, we start scrutinising. So between that and the computer, anyone will choose the computer.

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How to Engage My Child and Build a Meaningful Relationship?

Parent – Child Relationship

How can I engage my children and build a meaningful relationship with them?

First and foremost, is to understand that children are only with us on a short time basis, because they grow up very fast.

And to build that relationship, what we need is to take time to listen to our children, take time to listen their concerns and their issues, and spend quality time.

Most parents feel that they just don’t have enough time, or whatever time they have, when they come back, they are just too tired, but it’s a heavy price to pay in the long run.

So even something as simple as a little cross word puzzle, taking walks, use this opportunity to share and talk, not to tell, to complain and to demand, that’s very very important, so you build a relationship with the children looking for you instead running away from you.

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