This parental approach — providing a consistent, supportive environment — is a good way to lessen the stress that can accompany homework, said Dr. Marcia Slattery, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with UW Health.
Each year, Slattery said she and her colleagues treat hundreds of children who are anxious about school-related issues, including homework. For some, the problem is limited to homework. For others, homework exacerbates an existing anxiety disorder or indicates other problems, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or an underlying learning problem.
“There’s an inherent quality to homework that evokes a certain amount of stress, and that can be good, because it pushes us to learn,” Slattery said. “But for some children, the anxiety is so pronounced it basically freezes them.”