Q: What strategy would you suggest for parents who send their child to his room to complete homework but the child does not work? The parents also want the child to stay with me, his teacher, during recess to complete homework. What do you suggest I do in this case?

A: Although my column is mainly intended for parents and grandparents, I also receive wonderful questions from teachers, other family members and teens. This question from a teacher is important for all. This is a good time of year to address homework and study habits. They will obviously vary — depending on a child's age, a child's activities and whether the child's parents are at home or they work outside the home — but you can make my guidelines flexible to meet your individual needs. There is some good scientific research that underlies my advice, which will help children to become self-motivated and independent.

Parents should start early, teaching very young children to be as independent as possible in completing their homework. Doing homework in their room at a desk (not in bed) is a good habit to develop. Other quiet rooms are options, but a noisy kitchen or having a television on in the background is bad for developing good study habits. Children should know that after trying to do their assignment on their own at least three times, they may ask for help. Parents should help, but not too much. For young children, parents can look over their children's work to be sure they've understood their assignments and put forth their best effort. Special projects and reports can involve a little more parent-child interaction, and indeed, sometimes projects are intended to involve family more.

Timing for homework completion is important, and the concept that works best for guidance is the Premack Principle. It tells us to have children do the things they are less likely to like doing before they can do the things they enjoy more. So, for example, most children don't love to go to sleep, so saving homework until late at night would be nonproductive. Most children love TV, video games, board games and family fun, so those activities should come after homework. Ideally, homework should be done shortly after they come home from school. A little run outside or a snack can help, but downtime in front of the TV can surely make motivating a child to do homework nearly impossible. If kids complete their homework before the evening meal, there will be plenty of time for family fun and screen time after dinner. As a teacher, you could explain the Premack Principle and how to set up a homework routine at a parents night toward the beginning of the school year.

In relation to the request for homework to be done at recess, occasionally withholding recess motivates a procrastinating child to complete schoolwork on time, but for most children, they either rush through their work carelessly so they can get outside or dig their heels in with anger toward the teacher. Both children and teachers benefit from recess, so I don't recommend taking it away as a regular consequence. Many schools have after-school programs for families in which parents may be working later. An after-school snack and a little running around can be followed by productive homework time in school. Right after homework completion, these children can join their friends in play again and can go home with most of their homework completed. This will vary with the grade of the children.

Teachers can really help parents by suggesting optional ideas for study, as well as setting reasonable time expectations to guide parents. They could remind parents to limit children's screen time. That's much more difficult as the children become teens but still very important.

Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or srimm@sylviarimm.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.