Get involved

As a parent, your involvement in your child's academic life is critical to her commitment to work. Do her homework and let her know you're available to answer questions. Make a habit of asking her about her schoolwork and generally engaging her academically. By showing an interest in your child's school life, you are demonstrating to her that school can be exciting and interesting. This is especially effective with young children, who are naturally drawn to whatever you are drawn to. Teenagers can become irritated if you ask too many questions, so make sure you share the details of your day as well.

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Use reinforcement

Many parents are concerned about rewarding their children for good work, and it is true that tangible rewards can be a slippery slope. However, there are ways to use extrinsic motivation that your child will eventually internalise. "Kids respond really well to social reinforcers like praises, hugs, and high fives," says Laura Phillips, PsyD, a neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute. "After that, they begin to achieve because it feels good for them."

Reward effort rather than outcome

The message you want to convey is that you value hard work. Praising children for perseverance when things get difficult, for making a sustained effort, and for trying things they're not sure they can do successfully can all help teach them the joy of pushing themselves. Praise for good grades that come easily can make children feel they shouldn't have to work hard.

Turn doing homework into a game and a bonding activity

I bought colourful homework books for my preschooler and we worked on them together.

We sometimes took turns, so she would do one problem and I would do the next, and so on.

We used to race to see who could finish the page first.

Sometimes I did them incorrectly on purpose so that my daughter could point out the errors.

Being able to catch Mom's mistakes was actually very empowering and satisfying for her!

When we finished or got the correct answers, we celebrated.

It was a lot of fun, and my child thoroughly enjoyed himself.

She was already a fan of homework by the time she started kindergarten.

I couldn't do her homework in kindergarten because, well, that's her homework.