Sometimes kids dread homework because they'd rather be outside playing when they're not at school. But, sometimes a child's resistance to homework is more intense than a typical desire to be having fun, and it can be actually be labeled as homework anxiety: a legitimate condition suffered by some students who feel intense feelings of fear and dread when it comes to doing homework. Read on to learn about what homework anxiety is and whether your child may be suffering from it.
Homework anxiety is a condition in which students stress about and fear homework, often causing them to put homework off until later. It is a self-exacerbating condition because the longer the student puts off the homework, the more anxiety they feel about it, and the more pressure they experience to finish the work with less time. Homework anxiety can cripple some kids who are perfectly capable of doing the work, causing unfinished assignments and grades that slip.
To help your child with homework anxiety, there are a few basic tips to try. Set time limits for homework, so that students know there is a certain time of the day when they must start and finish assignments. This helps them avoid putting off homework until it feels too rushed and pressured. Make sure your student has support available when doing their work, so they know they'll be able to ask for help if needed. Teaching your child general tips to deal with anxiety can also help, like deep breathing, getting out to take a short walk, or quieting racing thoughts in their mind to help them focus.
If you have a child or a teenager who struggles with homework anxiety, an assessment can help to identify key areas for improvement and create an action plan for you and your child. To get started, take our quick, free online assessment by clicking the link below.
Understand the assignment. Write it down wherever you keep track of your assignments, such as a notebook or an app on your phone. Don't be afraid to ask questions about what's expected. It's much easier to ask the teacher during or after class than to struggle to remember later that night. Consider asking your teachers how long they expect specific assignments to take.
When you settle down to study or do homework, where do you do it? Parked in front of the TV? In the kitchen, with other family members distracting you? Maybe these places worked when you were younger and homework was simpler, but your homework is probably more complicated now.
I've struggled with anxiety and depression from about the time I was 16. I'm now almost 22. It started as a result of friendship issues at school, including bullying. As a result of this, I began to associate my school work with these bad feelings, and I became more and more anxious with every assignment and piece of homework I had to complete. I saw several psychologists and a psychiatrist, and I've been on medication for almost 6 years, although my dose has gradually reduced from 2 tablets a day to only half a tablet. This is a significant improvement for me, but I still get that anxiety when it comes to completing assignments for my university degree. I've found myself avoiding doing the work and then avoiding my tutors in order to avoid getting 'in trouble'. Part of my issue is that I also have mild OCD and perfectionist tendencies. This perfectionism combined with my anxiety makes me feel like I would rather not submit anything at all than submit poor or sub-standard work. This stems from having been a high achiever throughout my schooling, until about the time when my depression and anxiety developed and appeared. I think I was always anxious, but it was when the depression showed itself that the anxiety stopped me from being productive and ended up hindering my schooling.
I've also found that the anxiety continues into my relationship. I've been with my boyfriend for almost 5 years, but I still get anxious and jealous when he has extended contact with other females, even though I know there's nothing going on. I trust him, but I also don't at the same time and this worries me. I do get social anxiety and I have trouble making new friends. In fact I don't really have any close friends apart from my boyfriend. I think this is also what makes me feel jealous and anxious about his relationships, because I'm jealous of the fact that he can make friends so easily and I can't. I don't know how to do it, I feel like I don't open up enough or I say something too open too early on. I'm always afraid that people will think I'm weird and dislike me.
Everyone worries or gets scared sometimes. But if you feel extremely worried or afraid much of the time, or if you repeatedly feel panicky, you may have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illnesses, affecting roughly 40 million American adults each year. This Special Health Report, Anxiety and Stress Disorders, discusses the latest and most effective treatment approaches, including cognitive behavioral therapies, psychotherapy, and medications. A special section delves into alternative treatments for anxiety, such as relaxation techniques, mindfulness meditation, and biofeedback.
Homework has become as much work for parents as it is for kids in many families when parents slog through assignments together with their kids every night. They see it as part of their parental duty to help their children. But when it comes to assisting kids with challenging subjects or an unfamiliar way of learning -- like the new Common Core math standards and homework that requires approaches very different from those learned in previous generations -- frustration that builds from struggling over the homework can foster anxiety.
Homework procrastination involves unnecessarily postponing working on homework assignments. For example, if a student delays starting a homework assignment until right before its deadline for no good reason, even though it would have been better for them to start earlier, that student is engaging in homework procrastination.
Fortunately, however, there are some things that you can do to solve this problem, as you will see in the following article. Specifically, you will first see an explanation about why students procrastinate on their homework, so you can understand your own behavior better. Then, you will see what you can do in order to stop procrastinating on your homework, so you can start getting them done on time.
You procrastinate on homework because issues such as exhaustion and anxiety outweigh your self-control and motivation. These issues include personal factors, like fear and perfectionism, and situational factors, like distractions and unclear instructions.
Specifically, when you need to get homework done, you rely primarily on your self-control in order to get yourself to do it. Furthermore, your self-control is sometimes supported by your motivation, which helps you complete your homework on time.
This explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework even when you have the necessary motivation and you truly wish that you could just get started. This also explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework until right before deadlines, when the increased motivation, often in the form of stressful pressure, finally pushes you to get to work.
To stop procrastinating on your homework right now, you should identify the smallest possible thing you can do to make progress on it, and then modify your environment to make it as likely as possible that you will do it.
However, if, despite a thorough discussion of homework and agreement on its completion, the patient repeatedly does not even attempt to complete it, does not bring records and fails to justify non-compliance, it is necessary to return to the problem analysis and goal-setting. We need to clarify with the patient whether the problem they are currently dealing with in therapy is really the most important for them, whether the goal they seek to achieve is sufficiently desirable, and whether the therapist offers to achieve is acceptable.9,20
Most practicing CBT therapists report that they use homework and consider homework important for many problems14 and believe in the role of homework in improving therapeutic outcomes.24,27 Encouraging and facilitating homework is a basic skill of a CBT therapist; therefore, it is an important part of supervision.19,20,26 Homework needs to be carefully assigned and discussed (Box 1).
Ms Vera is concerned about her future and relationships (she was diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder). She has trouble speaking openly with the therapist. From the beginning of treatment, she often apologizes and explains her behavior, ensuring that she did not make a mistake. However, she missed the last session, arrived late, and did not complete her homework. She apologizes frequently and explains why she did not have time to do it. She is visibly anxious.
The supervisor helps define a specific engagement, discusses specific therapeutic methods, touches on what methods the therapist has used and what else they may consider the role, for the most part, the implementation of strategies whose ability to use in therapy under supervision will be planned, as part of homework.
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