Knowing When your Child Needs Help with Homework

When your child is crying or ripping their homework to shreds, it is easy to see they need some help with homework. However, not all children are vocal or open about their struggles. In fact, you may be nine weeks into a school semester before you have a clue there is a problem.

Here are few signs your child may need help with their homework.

Avoidance

Has your outgoing, excited to get to school child suddenly started feigning stomach aches, random fevers and general malaise to get out of going to school? Some kids have a general dislike for the school setting, but when a normally happy go lucky, ready to meet the bus kid starts avoiding class like the plague, something is definitely up.

Whining or Clinging

Is your normally independent youngster whining about small infractions or clinging to your legs as you prepare after school snacks? Social or academic struggles can make the most confident child clingy or unusually whiny. Gently ask if there is a problem and try to get a fix on whether the issue is social or academic.

Won’t Talk about School

Kids generally do not like to talk about things that make them uncomfortable, so if your little munchkin is running around crazy or changing the subject any time you bring up school, there is definitely a problem.

What Do You Do?

If you have noticed these or other odd behaviors and you want to be proactive rather than reactive (to bad grades), it is time to do a little searching. Start by scheduling a time to meet with your child’s teacher or school counselor if we are talking about Jr/Sr high students. Let them know you are concerned about behaviors you are seeing at home and want to know if there are academic problems you should be aware of.

Often times, teachers will want to wait until standard tests or a cumulative evaluations can be completed. However, if your child is really struggling in a subject, they should be able to tell.

Should you feel like your concerns are not being validated at the school level, you will have to push your child a little harder for answers. Many concepts build from one point to the next so if they are struggling a lot, you want to address the problem before they fall too far behind.

Final Thoughts

A good academic coach can make all the difference. Not only will your child perform better academically, they will enjoy the school experience more. When kids understand a subject and receive good grades, it builds confidence, which is essential to school success.