MRS. GAIL'S TIPS

    Helping restless or active kids achieve:  Is your child like a ping-pong ball, bouncing all over the place?  Is your child jumping up from the table and leaving homework unfinished every 5 minutes?  Maybe you will find these tips helpful in the nightly ritual.

    Children need CLEAR guidelines.  They should start their homework at exactly the same time in the same place each night.  You need to SIMPLIFY the surroundings.  Remove as many distractions as possible--like radios, TV, excess noises, etc.  Put projects or homework into MANAGEABLE chunks.  Use a timer and break down work into ten-minute intervals.  Mark a certain number of problems to be finished when the timer goes off.  After the ten minutes, do a stand up and stretch routine with your child.  And most important of all, give your child POSITIVE FEEDBACK.  Praise each effort after the ten-minute interval.  You might just find this easier than prodding them constantly to do their work.

    Good luck and enjoy your child!