Helping with Homework

When my kids ask me to check their homework, the unspoken part of the request goes like this: “Daddy, please tell me which ones I got wrong so that I can correct them and get my ‘A.’ ” But I look at their homework in a different way. I want to know  “Does my child understand the concept being taught?”  Those are two very different things. I have kids in second, fifth and sixth grade and I have found that there are two approaches you as a parent can take to checking homework: one is to lead them to the correct answer, and the second is to make sure they understand how to solve problems.

My son's 2nd grade class

Read Full Post »

The Fine Line Between Good Parenting and Cruelty

I have come up short as a father on any number of occasions.  I once put my bare-footed three-year-old daughter in the snow on a cold, winter night because she repeatedly stripped off the socks I had put on her.   Another time, I slammed down a spaghetti bowl and screamed at my two-year-old when he couldn’t get him to eat.   I am not proud of these moments.  But the end of the day, I believe that so much of parenting is a series of judgement calls, and that mistakes are inevitable.  Frustration, anger, overrreactions, moments of weakness, and the occasional contest of wills between a grown adult and a 3 year old produce situations with a surprisingly fine line between good parenting and outright cruelty. 

Read Full Post »