Page 10 - Dainfern_Precinct_Living_Issue_5_2025

ESTATE MATTERS
ESTATE MATTERS
ES T A TE MA TTERS
TODAY'S CHILD
HOME FRONT

HOMEWORK BATTLES:

WHAT'S ACTUALLY BEHIND THEM

What if it’s not laziness? What if it’s something else entirely?

B Y NIC OLA KILL OPS

t’s 4.37pm on a Wednesday. Your child enough: most kids aren’t refusing homework WHAT LOOKS LIKE LAZINESS
is sprawled on the couch, shoelaces to be difficult. They’re not lazy, entitled, or MIGHT ACTUALLY BE:
still half-tied, watching the ceiling fan lacking discipline. More often than not, • Cognitive fatigue — Their brain
Ispin as you say — not for the first time — they’re just overwhelmed. And they may not is done. Their executive function
“Have you started your homework yet?” have the words to say so. battery is flat.
They groan. You groan. The dog leaves the • Anxiety or fear of failure — “What
room. BENEATH THE SURFACE: IT’S NOT if I do it wrong?” is often the louder
JUST ABOUT THE TASK voice behind “I don’t feel like it.”
And just like that, another homework battle By the time your child gets home from • Lack of understanding — They’re
begins. school, they’ve likely already spent six to too embarrassed to say, “I don’t
eight hours sitting still, masking emotions, get this.”
We don’t plan for our afternoons to following social cues, absorbing lessons, • Sensory overload — Especially for
unravel like this. Most of us start out avoiding embarrassment, and trying their neurodivergent kids, the classroom
the term with good intentions — fresh best to hold it all together. That’s a full may have been too loud, too bright,
stationery, colour-coded timetables, maybe workday in anyone’s language — before too fast.
even a sticker chart. But life, inevitably, they even begin their “second shift” of • Perfectionism — The stakes feel
gets in the way. homework. so high, they’d rather avoid than
attempt and fall short.
And what started as a quiet “reminder” So when they resist, stall, cry, or • Emotional residue — A playground
soon becomes a shouting match, tears, and “accidentally forget” their Maths book for fallout or maths test panic can
someone threatening to email the principal. the third day in a row… there’s often more linger long after the school bell
But here’s the part we don’t talk about going on than meets the eye. rings.

8 DPL issue 5 2025