SQUIBLE – PC Pro School

By: Naples Family Vacation

If you’re having problems getting your kids to do their homework, or worse, getting stressed with it yourself, then this is for you. We are going to discuss several issues that come up with regards to homework, and some possible solutions to them. To the average Naples family, education is the most important aspect of their children’s lives. Doing your bit to help in the most productive way is the best thing you can do to aid development.

One of the most common beliefs is that you as a parent have to help them with the homework because your child doesn’t understand it. While this might be true sometimes, homework is generally set after the child has learned something, not before. The whole premise of homework is to give the child work to reinforce what they have learned during that day or week. To spend more time on the subject than they have time for in school.

It isn’t beyond a child to pretend they don’t understand so you will do the work for them. Careful balance is needed here, between helping your child genuinely understand the work, and relieving them of the burden of it completely.

Help with it by all means, but never do it for them, and never worry about sending them to school with it uncompleted. One of the best lessons a child needs to learn from education is consequence. If the homework doesn’t get done out of laziness, inattention in class or because they lied about having any, then consequence is something they will have to contend with. It’s an important lesson every parent needs their child to learn for them to lead a happy and healthy life.

On the positive side, sometimes a child does genuinely need your help with their work. This is a good bonding exercise for you and should be a time for mutual understanding a respect. Helping, but not doing the work is the best way to help your child develop in the way they need to. It might seem a little unfair at the time, but struggle, failure, and seemingly insurmountable problems are all part of life, and a child will need to learn to cope with them. Doing so in a relatively low risk situation like homework is a great way of gaining that experience.

If you have a problem at work and can’t complete a task, you would ask your immediate superior for help, but only so far as to learn the task, not to get them to do it for you. The same principle applies in education. Help by all means, give the child the tools to solve the problem themselves and they will grow. Do it for them and chances are they will become weak and lazy.

There’s no hard a fast rule here. If your child regularly needs help with homework there might be more to it, and a chat with the teacher is in order. If the child needs only occasional help, then by all means lend them a hand. Like most aspects of parenting it’s a judgment call.

Collier County Parenting

Even living somewhere as idyllic as Collier County, parenting can be hard work. Although we have a relatively child friendly society, children are supposed to be seen and not heard in public. The parent is expected to have control of the child at all times and that children who are noisy or misbehave in public are regarded as a nuisance.

While this attitude towards children is wrong, and something society has trained itself to believe, we have to live with it. Somehow the wider population disapproves of exuberance, horseplay, loud fun and laughter. It is society that is wrong, but unless you want to take on the world, it’s easier to work with it.

There are specific situations where a young child becomes emotionally volatile, which include large groups of people, transitions between activities, when they are tired or when they are stressed. It is possible to predict that a young child can and probably will act up during these times so it’s a good idea to be aware of what they’re doing.

When they become emotionally volatile they can’t think, reason or do anything except react emotionally. They want unreasonable things, make unreasonable requests and are never satisfied with your solutions or remedies to their situation. They don’t listen and burst into tears or a tantrum at the slightest provocation.

While it might be difficult for the parent, the best approach to this time is to be as calm and as patient as you can. Set definite limits to the behavior and give them attention, while not reacting to what they’re doing. Often, letting them get whatever it is out of their system is the best way to resolve the situation.

In public there is often the added stress of what other people are thinking. Nevertheless, a good parent has to handle the situation calmly and reasonable if they want the child to calm down quickly. If you’re getting out of the car, close the doors again and sit there until the tantrum or behavior stops. Letting the child get it out of their system can make the rest of the day much brighter.

If you’re out at the store or supermarket, take the child to a corner or somewhere out the way and get a handle on the situation. Getting down to their level, putting an arm around them or offering no resistance, while still keeping control will resolve the things much quicker than fighting with the child.

Having some answers ready in your head for the inevitable comments is also a good way of deflecting society’s displeasure. The best ones I have heard so far are, “It’s my turn when they’ve finished,” or “We’re okay, it won’t last all day.” Having an answer for the question will show you’re in control.

Parenting is a skill we learn, not something we’re born with, but something we have to learn as we go along. We are expected to know everything and get it right first time all the time, but that’s just the hand we’re dealt. By handling any situation calmly and with confidence, you can cope with anything parenthood throws at you.