Having a child brings with it a lot of responsibilities and supervising his/her academic progress is one of the most important. One of the biggest mistakes parents make is not taking their child’s primary education seriously (thinking it is just about coloring, counting and remembering names). As a matter of fact, your child’s early education sets the base for his/her future progress, problem solving and decision-making abilities. As a good parent, it is your job to find time and help your child with homework and here are 5 things you must remember when you do.

Make it a daily ritual

Homework is not a one-day thing and your kid needs to realize that no matter how he/she feels about it, it needs to be done. You don’t have to bribe your children to do it and your aim here is to make homework a daily habit. This is only possible if you will take out time yourself and sit with your children everyday so that they know it is important and is sort of a daily ritual.

Give it a team feeling

You don’t always have to sit idle by your child until he/she has a question for you. Ideally, you can start your own work (office, emails, news) alongside so that your child does not feel alone doing homework. Not only will this give the whole task a team feeling but you will also get your own work done while helping your child with his/her homework.

You can always take help from your spouse

Since both parents are equally responsible for the child’s upbringing, you can always call your spouse for help if required. You can have alternate days where each one of you helps the child with homework. Not only will this lessen the load on any one parent but also lead to the kid forming good relations with both of you.

Don’t lose patience

While understanding how multiplication works might be easy for you, your kid might not see it as clearly at this stage. Remember, struggling with homework is a not a sign of incompetence and if you lose your patience and treat your child harshly you will only make the situation worse. If he/she is having a tough time with Math for instance, you can switch to English for the time being and give him/her a break. Don’t act exasperated, annoyed or frustrated by your child’s lack of understanding.

Don’t give all the answers

It can be easy if you give your child all the answers and quickly get done with homework, but it will do him/her no good in terms of development. You need to encourage problem solving and only give partial hints and clues when your child is stuck at something. You can also walk him/her through a trail of thought that leads to the solution so that your kid can do his/her own homework in the future.

If you are having any particular problems with your children when it comes to homework, feel free to comment below. If there are any particular tips you employ yourself, share them with the community as well.