How do I help my 7 year old adopt a better attitude to her work.

[Morebiscuitsplease]

Once again when writing up the small amount of homework she was given, her father really had to work hard to ensure that it was complete, correct (even though we had gone through it) and well presented. She seemed to not bother with presentation or be bothered about the quality of her work. Yes she is only 7 but it was sloppy and frankly she can do better. She is doing well at school.

Does she like her teacher? If she does, just ask her whether they'll think what she's done is good enough. That always works with my DS, but if it doesn't, just slip a note into her homework asking the teacher to have a word to back you up. I don't have battles with my 7 year old any more. We look through it together when he's finished, and if it's tricky, he knows he can ask me to explain/ help him work it out, but standing over him never ever worked.

My ds is 8 and finds his school work really easy. This is reflected in the slap dash approach to his homework.

As I know he can do it and does not struggle, if the work is of an unacceptable standard, I simply give him a clean piece of paper and suggest that he might want to try again. I explain to him that his teacher will judge him on the presentation of his work as well as its accuracy and if it looks a complete mess, she will conclude that he could not be bothered. He loves school so would never want to put this message accross.

This approach depends on the child. Dd struggles more with her work and takes pains over it. I would never tell her that an ink blotted piece of work needed to be done again as I know how much effort she put into it in the first place.

I think you do it in a gentle way. You say yourself she is only 7 and doing well at school. Personally I wouldn't make it a battle with homework - believe me there are battles to be had in 5 years time but not at 7. Re presentation (she will soon realise when the teacher says something), and all you have to say is "are you happy to hand that in?" or "do you feel you have done your best?". Also with regard to making sure the homwork is correct, does that mean you go through her hw and point out mistakes? If so how does her teacher know what she is able to do on her own?
My DC had brilliant teachers who encouraged parents to supervise but not correct homework.
I am biased though, I think there is too much pressure on homeowrk at too young an age in this country.

I asked DS's teacher what they thought parents should do and her take was that you should pick up on things they've been careless over, but even then keep it to a couple of things. So if a word's spelt wrongly and it's one they should have got right, then it's okay to point it out and ask them to correct. That maybe you do a couple of those to show that it matters and to help them learn. The big no-no seems to be too much criticism, so always encourage and praise lots more than you criticise.

I think you need to have repeated chats about affort and results. Not just vis a vis school work but in all aspects of life.

You also need to model high effort yourself and then point it out to your DC. Explain how something was challenging or laborious and how you stuck with it. Show the result. Make it tangible.

She's 7! How do you motivate her? You lay off her, encourage her, stop criticising the poor little kid and let her develop a joy in learning. Having been pushed at a young age, I know how it totally turned me off learning.

I am inclined to agree with BettyBedlam. I always put my head in my hands when I see this kind of debate. How to make a child work - a seven year old child. What happened to letting a child be a child?

When I was 7 I didnt have homework. I cannot see as it did me any harm I certainly draw the line on this with my own DS too.

If you really must, then you need to find something to motivate your child with. I suggest this needs to be extrinsic (material) to an extent. You need a reward. Obviously she isnt getting any reward from doing it for its own sake and there isnt any reward to be had from her teachers for doing it either , otherwise she would be doing it.

Ooh i disagree jabed. If you reward for something as basic as trying, where does it end? I do agree with you on laying off though. Would rather not have homework either at 7.

In fairness she has very little homework. We have always been very positive but at what point do you teach children that sloppy work is sloppy especially when you know they can do better. She is in YeAr 3 so no longer an infant.

Smee, I didnt say reward attemtp. I would only reward actual achievement . For that of course you lay down what is the criteria of achievement.

But I still do not agree with homework for the young. Not before Senior school in my view and even then I question the usefulness.

IMO homework at primary is there to introduce the concept of independent learning, and the idea that not all work happens in the classroom. If she is doing the homework, then those two objectives are being achieved so I wouldn't worry about the quality of it too much unless the teacher actively comments about it. DD is in Y4 and I am just grateful that she's happy to do her homework and then we get on with something else.