Thought for the day…Sometimes we need to look, listen and support. My hubby and I have had to do a lot of home schooling over the period of Covid, and I am sure that you too are in the same situation. You have likely also been in the position that your child refuses to do anything and or is in the middle of their work and has a melt down. You see the work, know they can do it, but get frustrated because you child appears to be refusing for refusals sake. You may be missing what we did this morning, that we forgot that their brains work differently than ours. We had made the assignment too difficult and they were overwhelmed. We had to stop, look, listen and support.
Our children can easily be overwhelmed by too much information. When we read instructions that have different steps, we are able to look at them one step at a time or are able to do them all at once. Our children can find homework difficult simply because their brain cannot focus on more than one step at a time. They may also be doing just that one step, but then run into a simple difficulty that then makes it appear impossible to them.
Please know that this confusion and inability is real. Their thinking brains are not developed in the same way that ours is. Their stress level is also already overloaded and it does not take much for them to become overwhelmed. Their struggle may be different from yours, but it is still real. They may really not be able to do what the simple instruction asks.
I want to remind you of this because this morning my husband and I were guilty of causing part of the problem, we forgot to simplify the task. We also did not give the right tools needed. Once we simplified and gave the needed supports (one task and a paper with wider lines as the narrow lines were too scary), our child then did the assignment and with a smile. All of their frustration left as soon as we supported them by breaking down the information and by finding out what was wrong. We had to look, listen and support.
Next time you see the work needed, whether it is making their bed or doing their sums in maths, see if the struggle is because of too much information or something simple that can be fixed. Perhaps they cannot make the bed because they have the wrong sized sheet. Maybe they still have their pillow not he bed and their mind cannot sort that taking the pillow off will help. If they are having trouble with homework, maybe their pen isn’t working.
Remember that they think differently and they cannot fix problems like you can. Get in there; look, listen and support. Their frustration will go down and so will yours.