Handling Frustration with Homework
At times, my seventh grader totally loses her cool when frustrated with a difficult homework assignment. Telling her to calm down just doesn’t work. What should I do?
— Frustrated Too
Trying to calm a child when she is in the middle of a meltdown does not work. She is just too worked up to listen. She should walk away from working on the assignment to calm herself. When the child begins to calm down, you can be empathetic, expressing that you know how frustrated she must feel, and also offer to help. Or hopefully, once the child is over the meltdown, she may just tackle what has frustrated her on her own.
To avoid future homework assignment meltdowns, you need to sit down with your child and show her how she can learn how to do a difficult assignment. The first thing to have her do is to consult her textbook (this works best for math and English) to look at similar work to what she is being asked to do. Also, studying class notes is another way to find examples of the work that she is attempting to do. At times, she can find online help by searching for similar work. There are tutorials on a wide range of subjects, so she should be fairly specific in her search.
If the above approaches do not work, you could do some teaching so she understands the assignment. You should never do the work for her. If you are unable to help her, have her move onto work she can do. The next day when the homework is discussed, she should get the answers she needs. Or she can request special help from the teacher.
Should meltdowns continue to occur on a regular basis, it is time to consult her teacher to see what special help your daughter may need to handle her homework.
Lacking Sleep
You may be surprised to learn that your children could be sleep-deprived. Elementary school children should have from nine to 10 hours of sleep per night. Furthermore, the effects of not getting enough sleep night after night accumulate and can even cause children to have problems in school. Teachers see this as a problem when children doze off in class. Plus, the Association of Elementary School Principals reports that sleep-deprived children can’t concentrate on their schoolwork, have trouble remembering things, may become irritable and fidgety, and may be vulnerable to colds and flu.
Today, a major reason for children staying up too late is increased demands on their time. Your children may be involved in too many activities. Also, you should determine if they are being assigned too much homework. Children in elementary school should usually have about 10 minutes of homework for every year in school. There is also the possibility of spending too much time on electronic media.
Parents need to realize that part of the reason your children are staying up later may be physiological. As children move through elementary school, they will naturally fall asleep later, even if they have the same bedtimes. This is especially true when they enter puberty.
Parents should send questions and comments to dearteacher@dearteacher.com. To learn more about helping children succeed in school, visit the Dear Teacher website.
©Compass Syndicate Corporation, 2022