There are plenty of old stereotypes that go along with kids not wanting to do their homework. Unfortunately, many of these stereotypes ring true, causing headache-inducing power struggles between parents and students every evening.

It’s no surprise why your children might fight you on getting their homework done. After all, they’ve been at school all day, learning the same material covered on the take-home work.

But, if homework is assigned, they know it needs to get done. Arguing about it all night will only cause tension between the two of you and unnecessary stress. So, is it possible to stop the power struggles before they start?

Absolutely! With a few simple techniques and tips, you can encourage your child to get their homework done in a timely manner each day and avoid long, drawn-out arguments.

Let Your Child Make Choices

As a parent, it is your responsibility to guide and encourage your child. But, you can’t completely control their choices in life. One way to get through the power struggles is to let your child face the consequences of their own actions.

If they choose not to do their homework, they’ll receive a poor grade in that class. That doesn’t make you a failure as a parent. You can use it as a learning experience for your child, who likely won’t want to fail the class, and will, in turn, start doing their work.

Create a Learning Environment

One of the best things you can do to encourage your student to do their homework is to create the right environment. The ideal environment is different for each child. But, the following suggestions offer a good place to start:

  • Calm, quiet surroundings
  • No electronics, no television
  • Set a specific amount of time strictly for doing school work

By enforcing these rules each day, you’ll create more structure in your child’s life. While they might argue with you about it at first, most kids actually tend to thrive with structure in place. Even if they don’t have homework on a certain day, they can still use that time to read, study, or get ahead in certain subjects.

Creating Rules and Consequences

It’s up to you whether you decide on any negative consequences for your child who doesn’t do their homework. Going through power struggles and arguments can be exhausting. As a result, it’s easy to get angry and come up with some spur of the moment consequences.

If you do want to create consequences for your child, set them in place ahead of time. Make sure your child knows about them, too.

Some children respond better to consequences than others. It’s important to remember that you can’t “program” your child like a machine. If they still aren’t doing the work they’re supposed to, pick your battles. It may not be worth arguing over.

Understand Your Child’s Point of View

It’s easy to accuse your child of being irresponsible or lazy if they don’t do their homework. But, there are a variety of different reasons why certain students avoid doing work at home.

Sometimes, the child may be such a perfectionist, that they become overly-anxious about their own expectations. Because they feel like they’ll never be “good enough,” they don’t even bother with their homework.

Other students simply have a problem with procrastination. Things like setting up the right environment and a certain time can help with kids who are more prone to pushing things off.

It’s important to understand why your child doesn’t want to do their homework. It may be a more complicated issue than you first thought. When you’re able to do that, it’s easier to get through the power struggles and ensure healthier interactions.

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