The most common way that children (and adults) resist doing homework is by watching television, fiddling on the computer or playing video games. These can all be addicting once you get started. The trick is not to start. This may mean unplugging or hiding these time-wasters before the child gets home.
The typical excuse is, “I just want to watch while I’m eating my snack. Then I’ll do my homework.” But, snack gets dragged on until, after being immersed in the distraction for an hour, your child is too tired to start on homework. One way to handle this is to bring them a snack to eat on the way home from school so that there’s no excuse.
In general, the longer you procrastinate doing homework, the harder it is each day to get started and the harder it is to do a good job on the homework. This becomes a vicious cycle because, when the child gets bad grades, they begin to feel that they are no good at school and to want to procrastinate or resist doing homework even more.
Dr. Carole Lieberman is a well-known Beverly Hills psychiatrist who treats children and families, and author of books for children and parents, including the new award-winning book, Lions, and Tigers, and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror.