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Hide and seek, sorrow, hunger or sleep, when he feels the moment dawning on the horizon, our child does everything to avoid the inevitable sequence of homework in elementary classes. We would like to find the magic recipe to facilitate this daily routine. Without nervous breakdown!
With the advice of Bernadette Dullin, educational advisor and school and family coach, Founder of the Happyparents website, distributing fun learning methods and author of “Help, my child has homework” (Ed. Hugo New Life).
Possible causes
In addition to academic difficulties or a simple laziness, this refusal can be the manifestation of a discomfort that monopolizes his thoughts: relationship difficulties with his teacher, with his classmates, family problems … In addition, “some children have trouble to get back into a seated position, after a day spent in this same posture, ”points out Bernadette Dullin, educational advisor and school and family coach. Finally, there is our own school experience which resurfaces! “If the parent has a bad memory of it, his anxieties are reactivated, he gets angry for fear of not being up to the task, the child feels it and shines more. “
We make peace with homework
We establish a dialogue with our child to identify the sources of this refusal and be able to react if he confides in us that a friend is constantly annoying him or that the teacher scolds him too often. Doesn’t he like homework? Precisely: not zapping them is the best way to spend little time on them without having too much work to do afterwards. “Establishing a ritual is also essential so that he takes the reflex to do them in the same way as brushing his teeth”, specifies the coach. All in a calm setting, with equipment available, to save time and focus.
Do we play before or after homework? Engaging in a pleasant activity with the child, once his work is done, is motivating. Especially if our toddler is operational to tackle it upon returning from school. Conversely, we do not hesitate to start with the game, if we feel that he needs to evacuate a little before getting down to work!
In case of difficulties during an exercise …
Is he struggling on an exercise? Either we manage to approach this task while remaining zen, or we delegate if possible to the other parent, because “if they constitute a source of annoyance or a feared moment for the adult, the homework becomes so, in the process. , for the child ”, analyzes Bernadette Dullin. So, his advice to play down homework: we try to make it more fun and concrete. Does he have to learn to count? We play at the merchant with real coins. Vocabulary to memorize? We make him form the words using the magnetic letters in the fridge. He will work while having fun without fear of making a mistake, because, good news, no child has a phobia of play. And “we remember better what we experience”, specifies the expert.