Do you do your child's homework? If so, you may be doing them a great disservice

Alex struggled to focus in class. He found writing a paragraph unaided a stretch, and, as his Year 8 English teacher, I had to explain simple things to him time and again. Yet when he handed in his homework assignments, they were strangely beautiful. How, I wondered, could this pupil who showed so little ability in the classroom turn around such polished pieces of prose on his own at home?

I didn't ponder this for long. So great was the disconnect between his classwork and homework, it soon became apparent what was going on: the main author of the homework was not Alex at all, but one of his parents. A recent study found parents in Britain spend less time helping with homework, school projects and extra study than those in almost any other country. According to the survey by the Varkey Foundation, an educational charity, which questioned more than 30,000 parents of children aged four to 18 in 29 countries, parents here devote only 3.6 hours per week to it, compared to nearly eight hours in Russia, 10 in Vietnam and more than 12 in India.

I learned this with some surprise because, in my experience of teaching English at an independent boys' secondary school in the south of England, excessive involvement in their children's homework is the guilty secret of many a parent. At parents' evenings, those you suspect of giving the biggest helping hand confirm your suspicions with their behaviour. They'll often be the parents who bombard you with questions about what we're studying and what is coming up; the intense ones who hang on to your every word, or else constantly butt in with queries. If I mention there's an area in which their child could improve, they'll want to know how they can deal with it immediately.

Internet Safety Advice for Parents

The thought of all the possible things your child could stumble upon online is nothing short of terrifying for a parent. In today’s day and age where information is so freely and easily accessible to all of us with the infiltration of smart devices in our everyday lives, internet safety becomes a very real concern. Some of the best Bangalore IGCSE schools in are even holding talks and internet safety sessions for students and parents to spread awareness regarding cyber safety.

Read further for our top tips to ensure a positive online experience for you and your child:

1) Discover together

When your child is getting started on his/her internet journey, be there to introduce and explain the internet to them. For both you and your child, it would be advantageous to discover and explore the internet together. Look for websites that are exciting and interesting to the both of you, so that you have a fun experience and develop a positive attitude towards the internet together.

2) Lay down ground rules

Talk with your child to agree on some basic internet safety rules.

Here are some to get the conversation started:

Discuss acceptable internet usage timings
Agree on how to treat disclosing personal information (name, age, address etc.)
Discuss etiquette of online communication and messaging
Agree on the type of sites and activities that are OK or not OK in the family
It is good to have an open and non-judgmental conversation about this with your kids, by the rules. abiding but remember that modeling all these rules for them will be the most impactful way to get them to

3) Teach your child how to treat information they find online

Most children use the internet to research and learn for schoolwork and personal interests. Howev children should be made aware that not all information found online is correct. Your child will benefit from checking for information credibility by comparing it to alternative sources on the same topic.

4) Refrain from being too critical towards your child’s exploration of the net

Children may come across adult material by accident on the web. Sometimes, your child may intentionally search for such websites; in such cases it is crucial to be sensitive and remember it is only natural for children to be curious about material that is off-limits. Try to use such situations as an opening to discuss the content with them, and reinforce rules for this kind of activity.

Apart from what you teach them about internet safety and decorum at home, what children learn at school about the internet and the way to use this resource also matters. The teaching staff at most top international schools in Bangalore are well-versed with such rules and are careful to keep in check internet activity of kids at school.