"Did you do your homework?" is counterproductive. The "magic questions" taught by a cram school principal to get children to sit at their desks on their own

Hello, this is Aiai, the cram school principal!

This may be sudden, but isn't this kind of battle unfolding in your home almost every day?
Parent: "Hey, how long are you going to keep lazing around! Did you do your homework?"
Child: "I was just about to do it! Now I don't feel like doing it anymore!"

This is a "homework cliché" I hear when I have meetings with parents (laughs).
Actually, having watched children for over 25 years as a cram school instructor, I am convinced of one thing. That is, asking "Did you do your homework?" is the number one phrase that kills a child's motivation.

So, how should we talk to our children?
Instead of cornering them, we recommend using "questions" that help them concretely visualize their "next step."
Here are two recommended "questions" you can use at home starting today.

1. "How many minutes do you think today's homework will take to finish?"
Instead of asking "will you do it or not," you assume they will do it and have them estimate the "time it will take." Strangely enough, the child's brain then starts to imagine themselves actually doing the homework, thinking, "Well, math will take 15 minutes, and Japanese will take 10 minutes..."

2. "What time are you planning to start your homework?"
This is also a question that lets the child decide the schedule themselves. The sense of self-determination that "I decided to start at X o'clock" significantly boosts the child's ability to take action.

At first, they might say, "Ugh, I don't know." In such cases, the trick is for the parent to provide options and let the child choose, like:"I think it would be easier to do it at either X o'clock or Y o'clock, which one would you prefer?"The important thing is to make it "homework they decided to do themselves" rather than "homework done reluctantly because a parent told them to."
"Homework they decided to do themselves"This small accumulation of experiences will lead to the ability for self-directed learning in the future. Parents, you are tired of getting angry every day saying "Do your homework!" Because you want your child to become someone who does things on their own, you naturally get impatient and want to ask "Did you do your homework?" I truly understand how you feel. However, please hold back that urge, and starting today, try changing your commands into "questions" when you talk to your child. You might just see them sit at their desk smoothly!If you are a parent of a first-year junior high student worried about homework, please be sure to read this article (link) as well. It explains the reality of home study systems in the era of leaving textbooks at school!

Also recommended! [Summer vacation limited, includes learning benefits]
For parents who are worried after seeing their child's first-term English test results or grades, thinking, "My child might be struggling with English..."

I have compiled a special lecture that allows them to fundamentally understand the biggest hurdle in first-year junior high English: "the distinction between be-verbs and general verbs" in one go!
(You can also download a ready-to-use **"30 General Verbs Memorization & Confirmation Test PDF Printout"** 🎁)

I will continue to share information that will be helpful to everyone, so thank you for your support!