DD - aged 7.5 - is a bit of a reluctant reader but is required by her school to spend 10 mins practising her reading every week night. She can read (and seems to have no problem in class) but HATES doing her reading homework, so the 10 mins often spins out to half an hour or more as she stops at every line and says she doesn't understand, yada yada yada. As reading is my thing, and I want so much for her to love it as much as I do, this often escalates into frustration and (yes, bow head in shame) conflict between us - which clearly contributes to the problem (who said being a parent was easy).
I realised I have a bit of the same reluctance when it comes to doing shovelglove. So, I decided recently I'd use the kitchen timer for us both. We set it for 14 mins and she reads to me while I shug. At the end of the 14 mins, I have to put the sledgehammer down and she has to put the book down.
Boy, the transformation in willingness to read is astounding! She now wants to see how much she can get read before the timer goes off. She often wants to keep reading (mummy, getting wiser, insists the book gets put away till next time, no matter how interested in it she is getting...hee hee). Neither of us end up cranky. Cycle of power struggle/conflict is broken (double hee hee) and I've got in my 14 mins of shugging. I love this....Thank you Reinhard yet again!!
The reading has been so successful, I've introduced the timer for music practice as well. At her age, she is only required by the teacher to do 5 mins a day. It's amazing how willing she is to do it when she knows there is a set limit to it that she can measure herself (and that I'm not controlling). Woohooo.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
And just in case your thinking I've turned into a timer Nazi (hmmm, tempting) those two things are the only homework she has to do nightly. She also has a wad of written homework to do, but she very very willingly tackles the whole week's worth on a tuesday evening while I'm cooking and pottering about. Go figure.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)