Children and Family

When Parents Should And Shouldn’t Help With Homework

Kids are often overwhelmed by homework assignments that they receive during the week at school. Parents are often the ones who feel the burden of this work, because kids come to them for help. The instinct to help out in these situations is natural, as nobody wants to see their kids go through a hard time. But you could be doing more harm than good.

There is an old saying that claims that the worst thing you can do for your child is something they can do for themselves. So the general rule with homework is that you make sure that the assignment is beyond their abilities to complete before stepping in to add some assistance.

In some cases, parents might not be able to handle particularly difficult assignments in subjects like math, physics and others, which is where AssignmentExpert comes into play. On other occasions, here are some good rules of thumb for helping out your child or, if the case warrants it, letting them figure it out on their own.

Are Their Complaints Legitimate?

Let’s face it: There are going to be times when a kid is just lazy and doesn’t want to do a homework assignment. When they come to you in situations like this, your best bet is to quickly look over the assignment and see if you think it’s within their capabilities. Most textbooks come with explanatory problems that they can check out to help. Let them look over those and see if they have the gist of them. Then let them at least try the problems or questions they’ve been assigned.

Watch Those Term Papers

Just simply writing a term paper for your child will end up excusing them of their work entirely and putting the onus on you. Make them make the effort to write their own paper, at least as far as doing the research. If they need some ideas from that point, you can steer them in the right direction. You can also offer editing help, looking over the grammar and punctuation as well as word usage and overall flow. In this way, you might be able to offer them the helpful tips they need on their way to a good grade without having the burden of a lot of work on your hands.

Find Other Help

There are times when a parent might not be able to grasp the concepts of the homework assignments given to their children. You might think that admitting this is a sign of weakness, but it’s actually the sign of a good parent. The school your child attends might have tutoring available, or you might be able to find a tutor locally or even online. There are plenty of resources available for homework help for your kids; take advantage of them.

These are just some of the ways that you can help out your child this school year and beyond with difficult homework assignments. They may not thank you for it now, but rest assured that they will later.

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