Should Parents Help Their Kids With Homework?

William Derry

Staff Writer

Image Courtesy of sheknows. com

When we begin school at the age of 5 or 6, (sometimes later) we are given homework. At that time, we do not really understand why this happens but we know that are teachers constantly remind us to do it. Usually it starts off with the teacher putting the homework in your notebook, then proceeds into us writing down the homework from the whiteboard. The question is: what happens when we get home?

When I was in 4th or 5th grade, my mom would check my homework after I finished it. She would make comments on it, and I would have to correct it. This was fine until one day, I did want to not do my homework. I just sat at my dining room table and just stared at the homework. My mom yelled at me and told me do it. I knew that I must have been crying very hard, because after I finished the assignment I could see the tears on the spelling worksheet. Oh, I forgot to mention that my mom is a teacher and better yet, she is an elementary school teacher. Needless to say, she was never going to make life easier for me by doing the work.

When kids are first starting kindergarten and up until they reach middle school, they should be helped by their parents with their homework. This does not mean that the parents should do the homework for the student, but should encourage the student to complete that night’s assignment and try to answer any questions that the student has about the homework.

Once the kid has reached middle school, they will not need the parents to dictate when and how they do their homework because the foundation that was set when the kid was in elementary will still be intact. If those good habits are not there, that’s when kids really get lazy — and when parents might cave and help them actually do the work.

With my own mom, her attitude helped me in the long run. It gave me that fear and constant reminder that I had to do my work myself. She would follow up on me, but she never did the work for me. As a result, I make sure to do my homework every night, at 6pm on the dot.

The age of the kid and who the kid is, will dictate if you should help them with their homework and if so, how long in their educational career you should help them with their homework.