Teenagers

[PennyMay30]

Need some advice, it's a bit of a long one. Bit of background, my DD has just started year 10. Getting her to do homework has always been a struggle.

There is an opportunity to go on an extra curricular weekend residential that she wanted to go on. We made the deal that she had to complete all of her homework (there was 3 subjects) and chores over the weekend before we would agree to let her go.

She told us that she had tried, but a couple of issues outside her control meant that not all of the homework was completed. As we had thought she had done as much as she could to sort things out, we agreed that she could go on the trip.

I had a look at her internet history this morning, just to check she was not accessing anything inappropriate and found that she has spent all weekend on YouTube.

I am furious that she so blatantly lied to us. What can I do to stop the lies and make her see this is not acceptable?

I'd go in with trying to talk to her reasonably about it. Is she struggling to focus? Just watching YouTube means she was sat there with the potential to do the homework but she just didn't. That's an issue. Maybe go through some tips with her about how to stay focused. Was she looking at the homework, getting overwhelmed then just distracting herself? Maybe have a chat about how to break things into small chunks then take breaks etc.
Just punishing her or shouting at her won't solve the issue especially not at this age where she needs to be working unsupervised.
Obviously let her know she shouldn't lie and needs to ask for help if she's struggling for some reason.