Should Children have Homework – Know the Pros and Cons

Getting kids to do their homework is one of the most dreaded tasks for a parent. As many tantrums as your kid might throw, you know there is a reason why kids should have homework to be completed. However, recent studies have shown that there might be another side to this arrangement that few people are aware of. Just doing homework is a good thing, it may not always be so.

Pros of having Homework

1. One of the key reasons, why homework has been borne into existence, is that repetition helps a kid remember things better. By completing the assignments scheduled for the day, homework ensures that whatever has been taught in school has been understood well by the child and revised properly.

2. Homework sets in the habit of looking at learning in a positive manner. During examinations, your child needs to have the habit to go through the textbooks in a diligent manner, which homework tends to build it up over time.

3. Once your child is home, he would want to run off to play with his friends. Homework might seem like a fun-killer but it actually teaches your kid the skill of time management. He could either choose to finish homework and then enjoy the rest of the evening, or take a break and play outside then schedule a few hours later in the evening to finish it all.

4. A teacher is always present in the classroom. With homework, your child learns to finish his studies without an external influence and do the work independently.

5. Since there is no teacher to correct the mistakes, a child is free to make mistakes here and learn from them later on, so as to avoid them in examinations.

6. By understanding and reviewing what has been practised in the class, your child will be well-versed in it and will be able to grasp the next material easily.

7. Starting the next day of school with a fresh mind and being on the same page is quite motivating for children.
   

8. Certain assignments require kids to research a bit, refer to the Internet for information, and so on. These are skills that are required later in life to be able to solve real-life problems.

9. Sometimes, a single classroom session is not enough to fully cover a subject. Homework allows your kid to peruse the details around it and fully understand it.

10. Once the understanding is complete, homework functions as a test to know if those skills can be applied in different contexts.

11. Homework helps in applying the same principles to any class reports, or even come up with ideas for a project or so.

12. For parents, too, homework is a clear way of understanding what’s being taught in school and how well is your child faring at it.

13. It helps in establishing communication with your kid and helping him out in tough problems.

14. At times, completing the homework activity can reveal a fun part associated with it. This could make him enthusiastic about the subject and ignite a flame to pursue it in depth.

Cons of having Homework

1. One of the major reasons that homework is frowned upon is the way it is packaged into the school curriculum. Rather than being presented as an opportunity to learn better and deeper, homework begins to feel like an unnecessary task to be completed no matter what. This builds up stress in your child’s mind, after having spent a substantial part of the day at school, listening to different lectures one after another. It robs them of any relaxation time and their sleep can be disturbed if they fail to complete their homework.

2. At times, the homework assigned for the day can be in quite large amounts or it could be quite daunting for your kid since it is a subject he is not well-versed with. This could require spending a lot of time in finishing the homework, which results in no time spent with the family or playing a few hours with friends. Gradually, this begins to affect their social skills since all they can do and focus on is completing the homework
   

3. This can also cause flares to happen between you and your child. You might want him to finish homework first but he probably wants to take a break and then come back to it. At times, he might be exhausted after doing homework and then refuse to help in household chores.

4. The failure to complete homework can manifest in the child to resort to immoral activities just to avoid punishment. This results in cheating where your child might copy the homework from somebody else’s notebook. Doing once could make him realise how easy it is and resort to it more often. This removes any kind of learning activity that homework is supposed to provide in the first place.

5. In many cases, the homework might be completed by the child but the teachers may not have time to grade it properly. Most teachers are overloaded with preparing exam papers, checking journals, wrapping up the syllabus and so on. Checking the homework of each and every child and guiding him through it may not be feasible. This puts the entire necessity of daily homework assignment in question.

The very reason for schooling is to make sure your child learns new things, gains knowledge, and develops the skills that will help him later in life. This could make you question why kids should not have homework at all. But things aren’t as black and white as they seem. Since most schools are set on assigning homework, the best thing you can do as a parent is trying your best to attain a balance between school life and home life, and try and ease things up for your child.