Good Parenting

Are you the supervisor of your kid’s homework tasks? You know then about children coming first and sometimes this supervision can be challenging. So what happens when they visit their other parent and they have homework? If the two of you create consistency, their other parent should become the homework supervisor for that weekend.

Children know when their parents are consistent and in agreement. While they might grouse at the time in the face of consistency or agreement, in the long run they will appreciate it. Your children will appreciate the consistency if you and your ex communicate standards between you so the kids know you both have their best interests at heart. I cannot think of one thing that drove me up the walls as a kid when I tried to “work” my parents was to hear either one of them say “What did your father/mother say?” I knew I’d had it and would not succeed at manipulating them to do what I wanted.

Homework is your children’s ‘work’ and it should have the same attention as the work you do at your job. It is their job. Don’t minimize their job in any way. Don’t compare their life with yours. They don’t appreciate if it was easier or harder back then. They only know ‘now.’ It’s their task today and honor that. Support one another and your child with standards like:

- Penmanship should be legible. Their homework should have a clean, tidy appearance.

- Homework should be complete. Don’t let them do things by halves.

- Homework should be accurate. You check their answers and help them to get the right ones.

Share homework duties. If one of the parents is better at a particular subject than the other, then that parent should help with that subject. Let the child know you are only a phone call away to help him figure out how to do that homework.

If it’s your weekend to visit with the kids and they have schoolwork due on Monday, set up a place at your home and a time for them to do it. Do the hardest homework first and then take a break. Your kids will appreciate your help with this, regardless of which parent is helping them.

As their custodial parent, your kids know it’s about children coming first because you make them and their lives a priority since you’ve divorced. Your children will enjoy the continuity you create as well as learning that they are your priority and you love them when you place a high importance on them completing their homework. They deserve these comforts and they deserve to see homework, not as a curse, but as an accomplishment that both his parents support.