essay on helping parents at home

Essay on How I Help My Parents at Home

Students are often asked to write an essay on How I Help My Parents at Home in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on How I Help My Parents at Home

Introduction.

I love assisting my parents at home. It not only makes them happy but also gives me a sense of responsibility.

Helping in Household Chores

I help my mother with household chores. I clean my room, water the plants, and sometimes, I even cook.

Assisting My Father

My father appreciates when I help with small tasks. I assist him in his office work and we also wash the car together.

Helping my parents not only eases their workload but also brings us closer as a family. It’s a rewarding experience.

250 Words Essay on How I Help My Parents at Home

Parents are our first teachers and caretakers. They nurture us, provide for us, and shape our early perspectives. As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized the importance of reciprocating their efforts by helping them at home.

Sharing Household Chores

One of the primary ways I assist my parents is by sharing household chores. I take responsibility for tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. This not only eases their burden but also equips me with essential life skills.

Managing Finances

With my knowledge of modern technology, I’ve been able to help my parents manage their finances better. I introduced them to online banking and digital payment systems, which have significantly streamlined their financial transactions and record-keeping.

Emotional Support

Beyond practical tasks, I also provide emotional support to my parents. Engaging in meaningful conversations with them, sharing my day, and lending an ear to their experiences and concerns, strengthens our bond and ensures they feel valued and understood.

In conclusion, helping my parents at home has not only been a way of expressing my gratitude but also a learning experience for me. It has taught me responsibility, the value of hard work, and the importance of empathy. As college students, we often get caught up in our academic pursuits, but it’s essential to remember the importance of family and our role within it.

500 Words Essay on How I Help My Parents at Home

Every family is a unique system with its own distinctive set of rules, values, and ways of living. In my family, we believe in the principle of mutual assistance. We understand that every member has a role to play in maintaining the harmony and functionality of our home. As a college student, I have found various ways to help my parents at home, which not only eases their burden but also contributes to my personal development.

Assisting in Household Chores

One of the most direct ways I help my parents is by participating in household chores. Whether it’s washing dishes, vacuuming, or doing laundry, these tasks are not only my parents’ responsibility. I make it a point to share the workload, especially when I’m home from college. This not only reduces their stress but also teaches me essential life skills. It’s a way of preparing myself for future independence and self-reliance.

Being a business major, I’ve learned the importance of prudent financial management. I’ve started applying these principles at home, assisting my parents in budgeting. We sit together at the end of every month, reviewing our expenses and planning for the upcoming month. This not only helps in maintaining financial stability but also allows me to apply my academic knowledge in practical scenarios.

Helping parents is not just about physical tasks or financial management; it’s also about offering emotional support. With the stress of work and managing the home, parents often need someone to talk to, someone who can listen without judgment. I strive to be that confidante for my parents, offering a listening ear and, when asked, my perspective.

Technological Guidance

In this digital age, technology is pervasive. I assist my parents in navigating this complex landscape, whether it’s setting up a new device, troubleshooting software issues, or teaching them how to use a new app. This not only makes their life easier but also ensures their digital literacy, an increasingly important skill in today’s world.

Health and Fitness

Health is wealth, as the adage goes, and I firmly believe in this. I help my parents maintain a fitness routine, often accompanying them for morning walks or yoga sessions. Furthermore, I encourage them to adopt a balanced diet, sometimes even cooking nutritious meals. This not only helps them stay healthy but also creates opportunities for quality family time.

Helping my parents at home is a responsibility I gladly shoulder. It’s a way of expressing gratitude for their endless sacrifices and also a means of personal growth. Through these actions, I learn vital life skills, from financial management to emotional intelligence. More importantly, it fosters a sense of unity and love within our family, making our home a haven of mutual support and respect.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Why helping at home is good for kids

There’s strong evidence that feeling useful builds resilience in children, but how much and what sort of work are modern parents asking kids to do?

By Andrew Trounson, University of Melbourne

Next time your child complains about chores, tell them it’s for their own good.

Giving children meaningful household tasks and the autonomy to complete them may be key to making them more resilient and capable in later life. But are we giving them enough opportunities to feel useful or are we leaving them on the shelf, wrapped in cotton wool?

In what promises to be the biggest online survey of what Australian kids are actually doing to help their families, University of Melbourne researchers have teamed with the ABC’s Behind the News program to ask the children themselves what chores they do and how they feel about helping out.

The survey will be based on an expanded version of the program’s 2015 Happiness Survey that attracted almost 20,000 respondents. The results could lead to new recommendations on how parents, teachers and community services can better engage with children in building personal resilience given evidence that “required helpfulness” can foster self-esteem.

“We want to find out whether having jobs to do around the house and family helps children build their self-esteem and resilience by asking the kids what they do, how they feel about doing jobs, whether the chores are directed or self-driven, and what sort of satisfaction they experience from contributing,” says Associate Professor Lisa Gibbs, Director of the University’s Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.

“By asking the children themselves we can not only find out what is going on in families, but we can also uncover alternative possibilities based on what children say.”

The value of strength-based parenting

An insight into family resilience.

Professor Gibbs, who has received crucial grant support from the Myer Foundation , says the project could also provide insight into family resilience.

“There is emerging evidence of the contribution children can make to preparedness and recovery in areas affected by disaster. Given the opportunity, children can make a meaningful contribution to family and community resilience.”

The idea that it is important to foster a child’s capacity to help others goes back to groundbreaking research published in the 1970s on the impact of the Great Depression on US families that suggested many kids thrive when the going gets tough.

By analysing longitudinal survey data, US sociologist Glen Elder discovered that among families hit by poverty during the Great Depression, people who were infants at the time, and so wholly dependent on adults, struggled throughout their later lives to overcome their circumstances.

But he found that those children who were aged 9-10 when the Depression hit and threw their families into poverty tended to instead do much better later in life. Importantly, they outperformed their peers whose families had been unscathed by the Depression. Professor Elder theorised that these children benefited from increased self-esteem by having to roll up their sleeves and help out.

US psychologist Emmy Werner’s groundbreaking longitudinal study of 698 infants born in 1955 went further. She tracked her participants through to the age of 40 and found that those who proved to be resilient in the face of hardships in their early lives also tended to be those who has been actively involved in “required helpfulness” during their middle childhood and adolescence.

But if required helpfulness helps build self-esteem and resilience, what then is happening with children now when most enjoy a standard of living that the Depression kids could only have dreamed of? Do we need to be providing more opportunities for children to feel useful and worthwhile? How much responsibility is too much?

Changing times

Child welfare expert and honorary professorial fellow in social work at the University of Melbourne, Professor Dorothy Scott, worries that modern Australian children may be missing out on the self-worth that comes from doing meaningful help for others. She notes that in the past the family was an economic unit in which everyone needed to work and contribute to keep food on the table.

But in the wake of the technological and digital revolutions, she argues that families are now units of “passive consumption”. She suggests modern children may be at risk of losing some of the resilience that appears to come from being useful and helping others.

“The historical shift in families is very clear. When the family was an economic unit, children were an important part of it. But now in our consumer society, children have only a minor role to play in terms of contributing to the household,” says Professor Scott, a former Foundation Chair in Child Protection and the Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia.

“Positive psychology talks of resilience being related to factors like being part of something larger than yourself as an antidote to the passiveness that comes from a consumer society. The hypothesis is that by promoting required helpfulness and contributing to the wellbeing of others we might be able to help children build their own identity.

“That is why we need some contemporary research like this to ask children what they are doing in their daily lives. At the moment we don’t know how contemporary families work in this respect.”

Professor Scott says it would be interesting, for example, to know whether children are commonly receiving pocket money for doing jobs around the house and whether such pocket money is motivating them, or whether they are deriving satisfaction from simply helping.

Huge online audience

The idea for Behind the News to survey children on their happiness was initially a one-off initiative in 2015 that stemmed from Mental Health Week occurring during the October school holidays when the program wasn’t on air. Rather than just ignore it, the program decided to leverage the online interactivity of its audience to survey them and report on the results. They were inundated.

It takes two to write and laugh

“The idea was to make mental health a positive thing for the kids to talk about because ordinarily mental health is a fairly difficult subject,” says Behind the News host Nathan Bazley. “We’d hoped to get maybe 8000 responses, but we received more than double that and I think that is because the kids were just really excited about giving feedback.”

Among the survey results, over half of respondents reported nearly always feeling happy but a quarter reported being worried all the time about the future and their families. Two-thirds reported having experienced being bullied, and 15 per cent reported often not feeling valued.

The results intrigued Associate Professor Gibbs and her team. They immediately recognised the potential of the huge survey pool Behind the News had generated if only more rigour could be added, such as seeking demographic information from the kids. For example, information such as postcode location can indicate socio-economic status.

When she proposed collaboration, Mr Bazley jumped at the chance to improve the survey and have research support to analyse the results. They are now looking at running an expanded survey every two years with the next one to run this year.

As part of further developing the survey, Professor Gibbs’ team will host workshop sessions with children at participating schools and sporting clubs to involve them as co-researchers by asking them what questions the researchers need to be asking, and getting their help in interpreting the results. There may also be opportunities for them to appear on Behind the News as ‘Rookie Reporters’, filing their own reports on the survey results.

“I’m really excited to see where we can go with the survey and the relationship with the University. Instead of having experts telling kids information, we can now have kids telling experts what they think, and that could be a powerful tool for making policymakers take notice of what kids are saying,” says Mr Bazley.

Professor Gibbs says health researchers can only dream of the kind of response that the Behind the News survey generated. “The level of access they have is extraordinary,” she says.

“The collaboration provides a great opportunity to gain an insight into children’s lives. Children have a unique and valuable perspective that is different from that of adults, but it isn’t often listened to.”

Professor Gibbs remembers researching recently with school children about how they thought childhood had changed compared to previous generations. She was surprised when children complained that their parents paid more attention to their phones, tablets or computers than to their kids.

“As child health researchers we can focus too much on what the kids are doing, rather than asking the kids what the adults are doing. When they told me the parents were always on devices I thought ‘yes, of course’, but it was only when they brought it up that it occurred to me.”

The question now is what kids think of helping out. Their answers may similarly surprise us.

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What Research Says About Being a Stay-at-Home Mom

Pros and cons of staying at home.

Changes Due to the Pandemic

Ask people what they think about stay-at-home moms (SAHMs) and stay-at-home dads (SAHDs) and you'll likely get a variety of answers. Some might say they've got it easy, or that life at home with the kids would be boring. Some might think they're lazy or not contributing much to society. Others contend that stay-at-home parents are making the best decision of their lives and that they're making a noble, worthwhile sacrifice to stay home and nurture their kids day in and day out.

If you're contemplating whether or not to be a stay-at-home parent, what matters most is what works best for your family. So, first and foremost, consider your personal beliefs, priorities, finances, and lifestyle. However, there is also a wealth of research on the subject that you can consult when making your decision. The findings on life as a stay-at-home parent may surprise you.

Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin

There are, of course, many personal reasons for or against staying home with your kids. Benefits may include being able to spend more time with your kids and having more direction over their learning and development. You may not want to miss a minute of their childhood. You also might not trust others to care for your little loves. Drawbacks include the big hit to your family's income and to the trajectory of your career as well as the big change to your lifestyle.

Each person's specific pros and cons and how they feel about them are unique. However, research shows that there are overarching pros and cons of being a stay-at-home parent that may apply overall to many. These key factors are supported by data gathered in research studies and may help you to decide whether you want to stay at home or return to the workplace.

While there is no right or wrong answer, this research may help inform your choice—not make it for you. Keep in mind that each of these benefits and drawbacks may or may not apply to you. There are many different factors, such as budget, lifestyle, priorities, social support, relationship status, spousal involvement, and your kids' specific needs, to take into account before making your final decision.

Increase in child's school performance

Child has less stress and aggression

Greater involvement in child's day-to-day life

Feeling good about the choice to stay home

Parents often desire to go back to work

Parents may have higher levels of sadness, depression, and anger

Social isolation for the parent

Loss of income

Evidence-Based Pros

There are many reasons that parents choose to stay at home with their children. Studies have shown that many people think this is the best option for kids when financially plausible. According to a Pew Research Center study, about 18% of American parents stayed home with their children in 2018.

According to Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends, 60% of Americans say a child is better off with at least one parent at home. Another 35% said kids are just as well off with both parents working outside the home.

Kids Benefit at Every Age

A 2014 study found that the benefits of having a parent at home extend beyond the early years of a child's life. The study measured the educational performance of 68,000 children. Researchers found an increase in school performance all the way to high school-aged children. However, the biggest educational impact was on kids ages 6 and 7.

Most homeschoolers also have an at-home parent instructing them. A compilation of studies provided by the National Home Education Research Institute supports the benefits of a parent at home for educational reasons.

Some research has found homeschoolers generally score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized tests and achieve above-average scores on the ACT and SAT tests.

Regardless of whether parents stay home or work outside the home, research shows that parent involvement in schools makes a difference in children's academic performance and how long they actually stay in school. And some kids with learning differences and/or special needs may do better in a school (vs. homeschooling) in order to access any required services.

Decreased Stress and Aggression in Kids

Some studies link childcare with increased behavioral problems and suggest that being at home with your children offers benefits to their development compared with them being in being in childcare full-time. This may be reassuring news for stay-at-home parents knee-deep in diapers and temper tantrums.

Studies have found that children who spend a large amount of their day in daycare experience high stress levels, particularly at times of transition, like drop-off and pick-up.

Subsequent studies also showed higher levels of stress in children in childcare settings compared with those who are cared for at home. But that doesn't mean you have to keep your children with you every minute until they're ready to go to school. Look for a Parent's Day Out or babysitting co-op that allows your kids to play with others while giving you some time alone.

Greater Control of Children's Upbringing

The ability to directly protect, spend time with, and nurture their children each day is often cited as a primary benefit of not working outside the home. Studies show that some parents stay home specifically with the purpose of having greater first-hand control over the influences their child is exposed to. Others simply see it as their duty to be the one who provides the daily care to their offspring.

More Parents Want to Stay Home

More people are becoming stay-at-home parents—and 60% of Americans believe that choice is best for children. The number of stay-at-home parents jumped from a low of 23% in 1999 to 29% in less than 15 years. However, today's rates don't match those of the 1970s and earlier when around 50% of women (and very few men) were stay-at-home parents.

While the number of men taking on this role is far lower than that of women (around 210,000 compared with over 5.2 million), the rate of men becoming stay-at-home dads is on an upswing, too. Between 2010 and 2014, the prevalence of men choosing to say home increased by 37%.

Evidence-Based Cons

Regardless of the increasing numbers and some important benefits, a decision to quit your job to become a stay-at-home parent shouldn't be made out of guilt or peer pressure. While there are many great reasons to be a stay-at-home parent, it's not necessarily right or beneficial (or financially plausible) for everyone. For some families, the drawbacks significantly outweigh any positives.

Many People Miss Working

Research shows that many stay-at-home parents miss working outside the home and think about going back to work someday. It can be tough to leave behind the tangible rewards and results of a job, especially one you enjoyed and were good at.

If you stay home when your kids are little but plan to return to the workforce, you can take some steps to bridge that employment gap, such as taking classes, earning licenses or certificates that enhance your resume, or even taking a part-time job. You might also consider at-home business opportunities as well as work-at-home jobs that let you stay home while also earning money and reclaiming some of what you missed about your career.

Costs to Career and Pocketbook

Clearly, the decision to stay at home with your kids means giving up income. Research shows that stay-at-home parents must contend with lost wages now and decreased wages when returning to work. This "wage penalty" often amounts to 40% less in earned income over time.

There is also a big hit to the stay-at-home parent's career trajectory. Some parents are able to regain their previous work roles upon reentering the workforce, while others struggle to get a foothold professionally after taking time off.

Clearly, the direct impact on your family's finances will depend on your personal earning potential, skills, and career choices—as well as the income of your partner, if you have one. However, studies show that mothers who reenter work after having children experience between a 5% and 10% pay gap compared with their childless peers. This is in addition to the pay gap between women and men.

Adverse Impacts on Physical and Mental Health

Studies show that stay-at-home parents experience poorer physical and mental health compared with parents who work outside the home. Effects include higher rates of mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, as well as higher rates of chronic illness.

There are likely several reasons for this, including experiencing more parental and financial stress. Working parents tend to have access to more robust health insurance plans than stay-at-home parents. They also tend to benefit from greater self-worth, personal control over their life, economic security, and more dynamic socio-economic support.

Increased Sadness

Stay-at-home parents report feeling more depression, sadness, and anger than parents with jobs. A 2012 Gallup poll surveyed 60,000 women including women with no children, working moms, and stay-at-home moms who were or were not looking for work, and found more negative feelings among the SAHMs.

However, it's worth noting that significant research shows that whether they work outside the home or not, parents generally are less happy than their childless counterparts. Of course, the joy you personally get from parenting (and staying home with the kids) is likely to be highly individual.

More Social Isolation

A 2015 study found that many moms are spending lots of time with their kids, more so than in years past. Researchers believe this extra kid-focus results in a higher potential for social isolation. Interestingly, the research found no scientifically proven difference in outcomes for the children with this additional parental attention.

Some stay-at-home parents may feel isolated or undervalued by what some call the mommy wars , which pit parents against each other. This social dynamic can create perceived judgments or pressures that leave some stay-at-home parents feeling like they're not respected as worthy members of society. On the flip side, some working parents may feel criticized for not spending as much time with their children. Both groups can end up feeling socially isolated.

A 2021 study found that around a third of all parents experience loneliness. That's why it's so important for all parents (whether they stay at home or work outside the home) to find the right balance of social activities, exercise, sleep, hobbies, and self-care. Additionally, it's helpful to make the most of your family time, including creating gadget-free zones and planning fun activities you can all enjoy.

It's also key to take care of your own emotional well-being and let your children spend some time away from you. Whether it's a date night with your spouse or scheduling a day off so you can have some alone time, you're not going to shortchange your child because you didn't spend every minute with them. In fact, giving yourself parenting breaks and opportunities to socialize is important for your well-being, particularly during times of stress.

Life Changes Due to the Pandemic

Lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in closed offices and schools. This caused many working parents to either lose their jobs or switch to working from home. At the same time, parents needed to take on additional childcare duties and/or oversee their child's schooling . These radical, often overwhelming life shifts caused many working parents to reduce their hours or quit their jobs entirely and become de facto stay-at-home parents.

Research tells us that these shifts in work and parenting responsibilities affected working women more than men. These changes caused increased stress, burnout, and anxiety, as well as loss of income. Coping with the illness and death caused by COVID-19 also took a huge toll.

As the pandemic retreated, some parents chose to continue to stay home, while others returned to work, shifted to part-time jobs, changed careers, or started their own businesses. But some struggled to get back into the workforce.

The pandemic derailed or sidetracked careers, especially for women who bore the brunt of school and childcare closures. Many parents, especially moms, didn't have the opportunity to choose how to balance their work and life commitments. This lack of control can contribute to burnout and stress.

A Word From Verywell

Societal pressures make many parents feel like they can't win whether they're carrying a diaper bag or a briefcase all day. Whether you work or stay home, stop feeling like you're failing as a parent. There are trade-offs to every decision you make.

When it comes down to it, research is just research. Make a choice that's right for you and your family and don't worry about what strangers, neighbors, relatives, or scientists think. These findings can't tell you exactly what's going on in your family. Ultimately, honor what's best for you and your family—and note that these circumstances are highly individual and may change over time.

Nomaguchi K, Milkie MA. Parenthood and well-being: A decade in review . J Marriage Fam . 2020;82(1):198-223. doi:10.1111/jomf.12646

Pew Research Center. Stay at home moms and dads account for about 1-in-5 U.S. parents .

Pew Research Center. After decades of decline, a rise in stay-at-home mothers .

Bettinger E, Hægeland T, Rege M. Home with mom: The effects of stay-at-home parents on children’s long-run educational outcomes . J Labor Econ. 2014;32 ( 3):443-467. doi:10.1086/675070

National Home Education Research Institute. Research facts on homeschooling .

Lara L, Saracostti M. Effect of parental involvement on children’s academic achievement in chile . Front Psychol. 2019;10:1464. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01464

Panagouli E, Stavridou A, Savvidi C, et al. School performance among children and adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review . Children (Basel) . 2021;8(12):1134. doi:10.3390/children8121134

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NICHD study of early child care and youth development .

Nystad K, Drugli MB, Lydersen S, Lekhal R, Buøen ES. Toddlers’ stress during transition to childcare . European Early Childhood Education Research Journal . 2021;29(2):157-182. DOI:10.1080/1350293X.2021.1895269

Bernard K, Peloso E, Laurenceau JP, Zhang Z, Dozier M. Examining change in cortisol patterns during the 10-week transition to a new child-care setting . Child Dev . 2015;86(2):456-471. doi:10.1111/cdev.12304

Pew Research Center. 7 key findings about stay-at-home moms .

Rushing C, Sparks M. The mother's perspective: Factors considered when choosing to enter a stay-at-home father and working mother relationship . Am J Mens Health . 2017;11(4):1260-1268. doi:10.1177/1557988317693347

Frech A, Damaske S. The relationships between mothers' work pathways and physical and mental health . J Health Soc Behav . 2012;53(4):396-412. doi:10.1177/0022146512453929

Kahn JR, García-Manglano J, Bianchi SM. The motherhood penalty at midlife: Long-term effects of children on women's careers . J Marriage Fam . 2014;76(1):56-72. doi:10.1111/jomf.12086

Genadek KR, Hill R. Parents' work schedules and time spent with children . Community Work Fam . 2017;20(5):523-542. doi:10.1080/13668803.2017.1371672

Gallup. Stay-at-home moms report more depression, sadness, anger .

Glass J, Simon RW, Andersson MA. Parenthood and happiness: Effects of work-family reconciliation policies in 22 OECD countries . AJS . 2016;122(3):886-929. doi:10.1086/688892

Milkie MA, Nomaguchi KM and Denny KE. Does the amount of time mothers spend with children or adolescents matter? . J Marriage Fam. 2015;77 (2):355-372. doi:10.1111/jomf.12170

Nowland R, Thomson G, McNally L, Smith T, Whittaker K. Experiencing loneliness in parenthood: A scoping review . Perspect Public Health . 2021;141(4):214-225. doi:10.1177/17579139211018243

Coyne LW, Gould ER, Grimaldi M, Wilson KG, Baffuto G, Biglan A. First things first: Parent psychological flexibility and self-compassion during COVID-19. Behav Anal Pract . 2020;14(4):1092-1098. doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00435-w

Croda E, Grossbard S. Women pay the price of COVID-19 more than men . Rev Econ Househ . 2021;19(1):1-9. doi:10.1007/s11150-021-09549-8

By Apryl Duncan Apryl Duncan is a stay-at-home mom and internationally-published writer with years of experience providing advice to others like her.

My Parents Essay

500 Words Essay On My Parents

We entered this world because of our parents. It is our parents who have given us life and we must learn to be pleased with it. I am grateful to my parents for everything they do for me. Through my parents essay, I wish to convey how valuable they are to me and how much I respect and admire them.

My Strength My Parents Essay

My parents are my strength who support me at every stage of life. I cannot imagine my life without them. My parents are like a guiding light who take me to the right path whenever I get lost.

My mother is a homemaker and she is the strongest woman I know. She helps me with my work and feeds me delicious foods . She was a teacher but left the job to take care of her children.

My mother makes many sacrifices for us that we are not even aware of. She always takes care of us and puts us before herself. She never wakes up late. Moreover, she is like a glue that binds us together as a family.

Parents are the strength and support system of their children. They carry with them so many responsibilities yet they never show it. We must be thankful to have parents in our lives as not everyone is lucky to have them.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

While my mother is always working at home, my father is the one who works outside. He is a kind human who always helps out my mother whenever he can. He is a loving man who helps out the needy too.

My father is a social person who interacts with our neighbours too. Moreover, he is an expert at maintaining his relationship with our relatives. My father works as a businessman and does a lot of hard work.

Even though he is a busy man, he always finds time for us. We spend our off days going to picnics or dinners. I admire my father for doing so much for us without any complaints.

He is a popular man in society as he is always there to help others. Whoever asks for his help, my father always helps them out. Therefore, he is a well-known man and a loving father whom I look up to.

Conclusion of My Parents Essay

I love both my parents with all my heart. They are kind people who have taught their children to be the same. Moreover, even when they have arguments, they always make up without letting it affect us. I aspire to become like my parents and achieve success in life with their blessings.

FAQ of My Parents Essay

Question 1: Why parents are important in our life?

Answer 1: Parents are the most precious gifts anyone can get. However, as not everyone has them, we must consider ourselves lucky if we do. They are the strength and support system of children and help them out always. Moreover, the parents train the children to overcome challenges and make the best decision for us.

Question 2: What do parents mean to us?

Answer 2: Parents mean different things to different people. To most of us, they are our source of happiness and protection. They are the ones who are the closest to us and understand our needs without having to say them out loud. Similarly, they love us unconditionally for who we are without any ifs and buts.

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Supporting Your Child’s Literacy Development at Home

Take part in literacy experiences at home. Taking part can develop your child’s reading ability, comprehension, and language skills. It could also improve your child’s interest in reading, attitude towards reading, and focus.

Engage in activities at home. This is important for your child’s early literacy development. Engage in: joint reading, drawing, singing, storytelling, reciting, game playing, and rhyming. When joint reading, you and your child take turns reading parts of a book. When reading, ask her to connect to the story. Have her tell you more about what she is thinking. You can use her interests to choose books. Give positive feedback and ask open-ended questions during joint reading to boost her interest and critical thinking skills.

For young children , nursery rhymes are especially helpful for language and early literacy development. Play audiobooks or read aloud at home to increase the amount of language your child hears. Hang different kinds of print around your house. Label objects in your home. This can show the importance of language, reading, and writing. Help your child build background knowledge on a topic. Talk about everyday experiences, show your child pictures, and tell her stories.

If you use a different language at home, speak and read to your child in that language. This can help grow his vocabulary and make connections at school. It can also increase his curiosity and readiness to learn at school. Learning opportunities in a home language will help literacy learning in English.

For older children , play word games, talk about word meanings, and point out interesting or new words when reading together. Ask questions before, during, and after reading aloud. This can help your child focus attention on the ideas in the story. Before reading, look at the book cover and talk about what might happen in the story. During reading, ask what questions he has about the story. After reading, talk about what happened. Ask your child to sum it up and relate the story to what he already knows or has experienced.

For adolescents , engage in conversations, offer a literacy -rich environment, and be a strong model for reading. Talk about school, magazines, or current events. Ask them what they are reading and discuss the books. Have a lot of age-appropriate and grade-level reading material around your home. Model good literacy behavior by reading regularly yourself.

Technology can help families meet the literacy needs of their children. Serve as a “media mentor.” Talk with your child about using technology in creative ways. These talks can boost language development, build background knowledge, and help your child develop useful skills. Be an educated consumer of information on the internet. Review the abilities of the developers. Check the quality, usefulness, and content of the information being shared.

Infographic

Suggested Citation

Reade, A. (2017). Supporting your child’s literacy development at home. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org

Dunst, C ., Valentine, A., Raab, M., and Hamby, D. (2013). Relationship between child participation in everyday activities and early literacy and language development . CELL Reviews, 6(1), Center for Early Literacy Learning, Morganton, NC: Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute.

Guernsey, L., Levine, M., Chiong, C., and Severns, M. (2012). Pioneering literacy in the digital wild west: Empowering parents and educators. Washington, DC: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

National Urban League. (2008). Parent/Guardian engagement in adolescent literacy . New York: Author.

Taking part in literacy experiences at home can develop your child’s reading ability, comprehension, and language skills. Activities that you can engage in at home include: joint reading, drawing, singing, storytelling, reciting, game playing, and rhyming. You can tailor activities to your child’s age and ability level, and can incorporate technology into your learning opportunities.

Related Resources

Apoyo al desarrollo de la alfabetización de su hijo en el hogar

Participar en experiencias de alfabetización en el hogar puede desarrollar la capacidad de lectura, la comprensión y las habilidades lingüísticas de su hijo. Las actividades en las que puede participar en casa incluyen: lectura conjunta, dibujo, canto, narración de cuentos, recitación, juegos y rimas. Puede adaptar las actividades a la edad y el nivel de habilidad de su hijo, y puede incorporar la tecnología en sus oportunidades de aprendizaje.

Supporting Your Child’s Literacy Development

This toolkit helps parents and families take part in literacy experiences at home to develop children’s reading and language skills.

Read Aloud Routine

This bookmark presents a read aloud routines in English and Spanish for parents to use with their elementary age children to enhance their vocabulary and comprehension.

Topic: Vocabulary, Comprehension, Spanish

How Do I Engage in Partner Reading With My Child?

This informational sheet describes how parents can engage in partner reading with their children.

Topic: General Literacy

7 Guiding Principles for Parents Teaching From Home

Understanding the “why” behind teaching practices can help parents create meaningful and effective at-home learning opportunities during the pandemic.

An illustration of a group of people constructing an education concept from a blueprint

As millions of students across the K-12 spectrum shift to at-home learning because of the coronavirus threat in the United States, parents are scrambling to understand their new role as surrogate teachers. It will require equal parts patience and tenacity. “This is going to be messy,” wrote educational leadership professor Jennifer Weiner in The New York Times , before giving parents and teachers permission to try and fail “and that is OK.”

But messy doesn’t have to mean inadequate, nor does it have to be a permanent condition. While you’ve probably seen a sudden glut of online resources offered by nonprofits and educational institutions—including excellent new opportunities such as Mo Willems leading daily drawing activities or Dolly Parton reading bedtime stories —a library of amazing resources alone won’t do the trick. Learning is not just about exposing a child to interesting content.

Here are some basic principles, grounded in research and science, that provide an overarching structure to your approach and make the learning more productive and long-lasting—whatever the learning materials in your home.

Establish a ‘Flexible Learning’ Space

The fluid, open spaces that allow today’s office workers to be more productive can also be useful for students, says teacher Kayla Dornfeld . “Flexible classrooms”—learning environments that provide a variety of choices for how and where a student might elect to learn—have become increasingly common in schools throughout the country. When students can tailor their space to their work, the research suggests that they feel more engaged and are more productive, so encourage students to move the furniture and props to fit their learning needs.

You’ll want to maintain some structure. Set clear expectations about how and when a space can be used, says California middle school teacher Laura Bradley . Establish a few parameters for what types of work occurs in different spaces, but give students choice. For example, a student may be at a traditional desk for math practice but can transition to a couch or beanbag chair to watch online math instruction. Be crafty: Common household items can be used to change the dynamics of a space. A cardboard box can become a writing fortress , according to one teacher, while a stack of pillows can transform to an art corner. Create a balance between offering structured space and allowing students to choose where they can learn and engage most comfortably.

If you still think it feels a little risky, one comprehensive study showed that “flexibility” accounted for a quarter of the academic benefits attributable to classroom design, making it about as important as light or temperature to effective learning.

Check In Every Morning—And Throughout the Day

Starting school each morning is about more than laying out the academic benchmarks for the day. Decades of research reveals that a sense of belonging, well-being, and connection is a crucial precursor to learning: If your child is upset or lonely, for example, the research suggests that they simply won’t be as productive as learners.

You might consider implementing an at-home version of a “ greeting at the door ,” a fun ritual teachers often use at the start of the day, to check in with your child and ask how they’re feeling. Continue the practice throughout the day using lightweight ‘checks-ins’ and vary the question. According to the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning, asking “If you made or used an emoji that best represents your moods right now, what is it?” or “What color or blend of colors best represents how you’re feeling today? Why?" can evoke more nuanced responses than “How are you feeling?”

If your school participates in distance learning, make sure your child regularly engages with other peers through the available technology—or consider snail-mail pen pals to keep your student connected to other young learners.

Allow Frequent ‘Brain Breaks’

For parents and students, a back-to-back schedule of activities is overwhelming. The good news? Neuroscience supports frequent “brain breaks,” and teachers pepper them throughout the day so students can process the information they’ve learned more effectively. How do brain breaks work? Studies show that brains at rest—also called the ‘default mode’—are still busy processing information below the threshold of consciousness, cleaning up what they’ve learned and moving critical information from short-term memory to long-term storage.

Generally, younger students need more breaks, but students of all ages benefit from them. For young students, research shows brain breaks improve attention span. Breaking lessons into smaller, more manageable chunks helps students focus. Older students need breaks every 20-30 minutes to maintain focus and energy.

Find a Rhythm That Works

When schools announced closings, a plethora of suggested schedules popped up across the internet, but a rigid, static schedule won’t serve a student’s needs. Best-selling author and researcher Daniel Pink says 15 percent of people are “larks,” or morning people, and another 15 percent are “owls,” who perform best later in the day. The rest fall somewhere along the continuum between those poles, so think about customizing schedules to the child—a practice called “differentiation” that teachers use to meet the diverse needs of the learners in their classrooms.

Younger students perform best on analytical tasks earlier in the day, according to research cited by Pink , so parents may want to schedule activities like math in the morning. For the teenage brain, a later start and more sleep can mean better memory and retention . The American Academy of Pediatrics advises starting an adolescent’s school day no earlier than 8:30am.

Consolidate Learning

One misconception about teaching is that its primary function is to help students retain information, but retention is just the first step. Effective learning requires that students retrieve information frequently and then make new meaning of it. This process, called consolidation, is often reinforced in traditional classrooms through reviews and quizzes, or through multi-sensory practices like drawing, composing a song, or building a model about what has recently been learned.

At home, prioritize opportunities to engage in active learning through discussion, writing, or producing art, over more passive practices such as re-reading or rote note-taking. Learning requires repeated, active manipulation of the materials being learned.

Finally, many studies reveal that teaching what you’ve learned to someone else—to a parent or to another sibling—is also a highly effective way to consolidate learning and make it stick. It’s called the protege effect , and it works because teaching something requires that you master all the nuances of the topic.

Encourage Productive Struggle

Encourage kids to engage in productive struggle by giving them difficult assignments and praising them for their persistence. Research shows that when students solve problems that are challenging, but still within their abilities, they deepen their learning. Allow students to wrestle with problems before intervening.

When work is completed, try to avoid praising your child for “being smart;” the studies show that praising a child for inherent qualities tends to make them risk-averse and discourages trying new or challenging things. You want your kids to continue to push themselves, and praising hard work is more effective for building endurance and tenacity.

Consider Passions and Play

In many parts of the world, schooling at home will continue for at least several months. Help students move beyond a compliance mindset—"I’ve completed my work, can I go now?"— by building in time for passion projects and fun. You want kids to have intrinsic motivation to keep working hard, so use school at home as an opportunity for deeper learning where kids use their environment to explore different subjects.

Household activities like cooking or organizing offer the opportunity to develop problem-solving skills. New research shows that music, art, drawing, and dance are highly engaging activities that also improve language skills, mental focus, empathy, and creativity.

Finally, in the hustle of academic work, don’t forget the importance of play. Not only does it provide a respite for the brain after taxing analytical tasks like math or science, but decades of research shows that exercise can actually alter brain structure in ways that improve memory, attention, mood, and cognitive function. Unstructured play with few rules and lots of room for imagination is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics because it gives kids a space and time to practice social-emotional skills and creative problem-solving.

K-12 Resources By Teachers, For Teachers Provided by the K-12 Teachers Alliance

Teaching Strategies
Classroom Activities
Classroom Management
Technology in the Classroom
Professional Development
Lesson Plans
Writing Prompts
Graduate Programs

The Value of Parents Helping with Homework

Dr. selena kiser.

September 2, 2020

Young girl and mom high-fiving while working on homework.

The importance of parents helping with homework is invaluable. Helping with homework is an important responsibility as a parent and directly supports the learning process. Parents’ experience and expertise is priceless. One of the best predictors of success in school is learning at home and being involved in children’s education. Parental involvement with homework helps develop self-confidence and motivation in the classroom. Parents helping students with homework has a multitude of benefits including spending individual time with children, enlightening strengths and weaknesses, making learning more meaningful, and having higher aspirations.

How Parental Involvement with Homework Impacts Students

Parental involvement with homework impacts students in a positive way. One of the most important reasons for parental involvement is that it helps alleviate stress and anxiety if the students are facing challenges with specific skills or topics. Parents have experience and expertise with a variety of subject matter and life experiences to help increase relevance. Parents help their children understand content and make it more meaningful, while also helping them understand things more clearly.

Also, their involvement increases skill and subject retention. Parents get into more depth about content and allow students to take skills to a greater level. Many children will always remember the times spent together working on homework or classroom projects. Parental involvement with homework and engagement in their child’s education are related to higher academic performance, better social skills and behavior, and increased self-confidence.

Parents helping with homework allows more time to expand upon subjects or skills since learning can be accelerated in the classroom. This is especially true in today’s classrooms. The curricula in many classrooms is enhanced and requires teaching a lot of content in a small amount of time. Homework is when parents and children can spend extra time on skills and subject matter. Parents provide relatable reasons for learning skills, and children retain information in greater depth.

Parental involvement increases creativity and induces critical-thinking skills in children. This creates a positive learning environment at home and transfers into the classroom setting. Parents have perspective on their children, and this allows them to support their weaknesses while expanding upon their strengths. The time together enlightens parents as to exactly what their child’s strengths and weaknesses are.

Virtual learning is now utilized nationwide, and parents are directly involved with their child’s schoolwork and homework. Their involvement is more vital now than ever. Fostering a positive homework environment is critical in virtual learning and assists children with technological and academic material.

Strategies for Including Parents in Homework

An essential strategy for including parents in homework is sharing a responsibility to help children meet educational goals. Parents’ commitment to prioritizing their child’s educational goals, and participating in homework supports a larger objective. Teachers and parents are specific about the goals and work directly with the child with classwork and homework. Teachers and parents collaboratively working together on children’s goals have larger and more long-lasting success. This also allows parents to be strategic with homework assistance.

A few other great examples of how to involve parents in homework are conducting experiments, assignments, or project-based learning activities that parents play an active role in. Interviewing parents is a fantastic way to be directly involved in homework and allows the project to be enjoyable. Parents are honored to be interviewed, and these activities create a bond between parents and children. Students will remember these assignments for the rest of their lives.

Project-based learning activities examples are family tree projects, leaf collections, research papers, and a myriad of other hands-on learning assignments. Children love working with their parents on these assignments as they are enjoyable and fun. This type of learning and engagement also fosters other interests. Conducting research is another way parents directly impact their child’s homework. This can be a subject the child is interested in or something they are unfamiliar with. Children and parents look forward to these types of homework activities.

Parents helping students with homework has a multitude of benefits. Parental involvement and engagement have lifelong benefits and creates a pathway for success. Parents provide autonomy and support, while modeling successful homework study habits.

#homework , #ParentalInvolvement

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Best ways to support writing at home

by: The GreatSchools Editorial Team | Updated: May 12, 2023

Print article

Follow these tips to support your child’s writing at home.

Provide a place for your child to write

The area should be an area that is quiet and well lit. Stock the “writing center” with supplies such as paper, pencils and crayons. You can also gather family photos and magazines in the center that can be used as story starters.

Read, read, read

The best activity to improve writing is reading . If your child reads good books, he will be a better writer. Reading exposes students to general vocabulary, word study and content-specific vocabulary. Through reading, students see a variety of authors’ techniques that they can use in their own writing.

Encourage your child to keep a reflective journal with writing

This is excellent writing practice, as well as a good outlet for venting feelings. Encourage your child to write about things that happen at home and school. This reflective journal can be used to develop the “senses” of writing. Have your child write about what he saw, heard or felt on a trip or adventure. Provide experiences in your community that will interest your child and spark her writing. Especially encourage your child to write about personal feelings — pleasures as well as disappointments. When reading your child’s journal (only if your child invites you to, of course), share your own feelings and ideas paired with positive feedback about your child’s writing.

Provide authentic writing opportunities for your child

Have your child write his own thank-you notes, party invitations and letters to family. Let your child make the grocery list. Finding a pen pal for your child would make writing “real.” Helping children make the connection between writing and the “real” world will increase an interest in writing.

Be a writing role model

Make sure your child sees you as a writer. Point out times that you use writing to communicate with others. Discuss authentic writing in the community such as articles and letters in the newspaper, on billboards or in written advertisements. Discuss the purpose of the writing and the target audience. When your child writes, you should write. You can schedule a day of the week that you will turn off the television and share your writing.

Start a vocabulary notebook

Teach your child new words each week and encourage her to use them. Make it into a game and give points for using the new words. Your child can keep a vocabulary notebook and get rewarded for the number of new words learned. The words will begin to appear like magic in her oral language and writing.

When writing at home, ask questions!

Always ask your child questions when he writes. Ask specific questions about your child’s writing such as: “How did that happen?” “How did that make you feel?” “Can you tell me more about that…?” “What are some other words you could use to describe…?”

Help your child publish her writing

Share her writing with others, place it on the refrigerator or encourage her to write for kids’ magazines. When your child’s writing is published in a children’s book, she will be on her way to becoming a lifelong writer and author. Check out these options for publishing children’s work:

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You and Your Parents
Improving Relations with Parents

How to Help Around the House

Last Updated: November 25, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Wits End Parenting . Wits End Parenting is a parent-coaching practice based in Berkeley, California specializing in strong-willed, “spirited” children with impulsivity, emotional volatility, difficulty “listening,” defiance, and aggression. Wits End Parenting's counselors incorporate positive discipline that is tailored to each child’s temperament while also providing long-term results, freeing parents from the need to continually re-invent their discipline strategies. There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 403,270 times.

Your parents do a lot of work around the house to keep things clean, and to try and provide for you. If you want to pay them back, at least a little, make the effort to help out with chores around the house. Help your parents out by keeping rooms around the house clean, and looking for ways to take chores off their hands. Even if you are a young kid, there are many things you can do to make your parents’ lives easier, and keep your home clean and welcoming.

Cleaning Your Room

It can be very helpful to have a little garbage can in your room for you to throw things away into. Make sure you clean it out when it gets full.
Not only will this make your room less cluttered, but garbage also attracts bugs and other pests. Plus it smells. Getting rid of it will make your room smell better.

A good time to make your bed is first thing in the morning. That way you will remember to do it right away. Also, it will make sure that the only time your bed isn’t made is when you are sleeping in it.
Your bedsheets should be washed every couple of weeks, so make sure to strip your bed when your parents ask to make sure they stay clean.

If your clothes are clean, fold them and hang them up in the closet or put them back in the dresser where they belong.
If your clothes are dirty, gather them up, and take them to the laundry room. If your parents let you, you can even do the laundry, and clean your clothes yourself. Just make sure to check with them first. Once they are clean, fold them and put them away properly in your room.

Don’t just throw things into a pile in your closet. That only moves the mess to another part of your room. Make sure you have a shelf or chest to put things in before starting. If you don’t have enough room for all of your stuff, you may want to ask for something else to store them in, or consider getting rid of stuff you don’t use or play with anymore.

Tackling Household Chores

Step 1 Ask other people if they need help.

Your family may tell you they don’t need your help, and that’s okay. The important thing is that you thought to ask, which they will appreciate.

After meals are over, you can also be helpful by clearing the table. Get all the dishes and silverware into the sink or dishwasher for cleaning.

Start by scraping off all food scraps, which will make the dishes easier to clean. Remember to use warm water and soap to clean off the whole dish. Clean all the dishes, silverware, cups, anything that you used to eat or make food with.
Remember to clean food scraps out of the sink drain when you are finished. Throw them away so they don’t clog the drain.
Empty the dishwasher. If your house has a dishwasher, unload it after it finishes. Just give it a few minutes to cool down first, as dishes can be hot. You don’t want to accidentally burn yourself.
Be careful when handling sharp objects like knives and other utensils. If you aren’t careful, you can cut yourself, so always pick things up by the handle, and watch where you are reaching. [4] X Research source

If you are older, and your parents let you, use a vacuum to help give the floors a better clean.

Don’t hide bad news or bad grades. This is not a chance for you to keep your parents from seeing stuff like that.

There are plenty of other types of messes that can appear around the house. Piles of books, papers, clothes, toys, and dishes can appear at any time. You can be a big help by cleaning them up.

You can help here by giving your parents suggestions of things you would like to do. These can be chores you know you would be good at, or things you would like to get better at doing. In talking with your parents, you may decide that you will have a set list of chores, or maybe you will rotate a list of chores with your siblings.
Remember that chores may not always be divided fairly. If your siblings are too young to do something, you will need to do it until they are old enough. The important thing is to not whine about it, and do what needs to be done.

Taking Care of Pets

You should only feed him proper pet food, so no table scraps or treats.
Don’t forget to make sure your pet also has a supply of clean water. If the dish still has water in it, but it looks dirty, rinse it out and refill it.
This is a good thing to talk about with your whole family, so everyone knows who is supposed to feed your pets and when. You don’t want to overfeed or underfeed him.

If you have a place for your pet to use the bathroom, whether in the cage or a litter box, make sure you clean that out regularly as well.

Even cats will want some time with family members, so go ahead and pet him or let him curl up with you for a nap.
Make sure you keep an eye on your pets, especially if they are smaller. You don’t want a gerbil or lizard getting loose in the house.
Be nice and friendly to your pets. If you are mean or aggressive, your pets won’t like that. They will either become more aggressive to you, which could mean biting or scratching, or they will become afraid, and not want to play with you. [14] X Trustworthy Source American Kennel Club The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a purebred dog pedigree registry in the United States. The AKC advocates for the responsible ownership of dogs and promotes purebred dog events, such as the Westminster Dog Show. Go to source

If you have a dog, or another pet that needs to use the bathroom outside, remember to bring a bag so you can pick up his poop to throw away. [15] X Research source

When you comb through hair, make sure to check for fleas and ticks, as well as anything else that might be stuck in your pet’s coat. If you see a tick you can try to get it off yourself, or ask your parents for help. Just make sure your parents know you found the tick, so they can call the vet if something needs to happen.
You may be able to bathe your dog or cat as well. This can be tough, as your pet may not want a bath, or enjoy splashing. Make sure your parents know you want to give yours a bath. Just don’t overdo it. Once a month for dogs, or once every few months for cats, should be enough.
For rodents and reptiles, pets that live in cages, keeping the cage clean should be enough. You don’t need to wash them.

Expert Q&A

If you aren’t sure what you can do around the house, don’t be afraid to ask. Your parents will probably have some ideas of good things for you to help with. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
Sometimes helping around the house means helping your siblings with homework or projects. This is a nice thing for you to do for them, and it gives your parents time to do other things. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

Help before your parents ask you to. And if they do ask you to help, do it right away. Don't expect something in return for helping. Your parents don't get a treat when they do it, after all.
I check the mailbox for my mom every day. Try small tasks like this for yourself.
Do your best work, even if you don't like the task you're doing.
Fold laundry and put clothes away to help out.

Be careful when using chemicals and sprays to clean off floors and surfaces. These can be poisonous if you use them incorrectly. Check with your parents before using them, and make sure you follow all the directions carefully. Thanks Helpful 118 Not Helpful 16

↑ https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment
↑ https://www.cdc.gov/hygiene/cleaning/cleaning-your-home.html
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/cooking-at-home.htm
↑ https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/child-safety-and-injury-prevention
↑ https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/prevention/Pages/Cleaners-Sanitizers-Disinfectants.aspx
↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/enlightened-living/200805/taking-out-the-trash-mindfulness-in-action
↑ https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/Pages/Household-Chores-for-Adolescents.aspx
↑ Wits End Parenting. Parenting Specialists. Expert Interview. 5 March 2020.
↑ https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/family-life/routines-rituals-rules/chores-for-children
↑ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/how-to-get-your-kids-to-do-chores
↑ https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/how-many-times-a-day-should-a-dog-eat/
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/mood-boosting-power-of-dogs.htm
↑ https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/10-science-based-benefits-dog/
↑ https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/protecting-our-environment/sustainability-tips/pollution-prevention/pet-waste
↑ https://www.rspcapetinsurance.org.au/pet-care/dog-care/dog-grooming-guide

About This Article

To help around the house, tidy up your room by making your bed, throwing away any trash, and putting away your laundry. You can also help set the table for meals, wash dishes, and take out the trash. Additionally, make sure to help out with any pets you have by feeding them, giving them exercise, and cleaning up their messes. If you aren’t sure what needs to be done or what would be most helpful, ask for regular chores. To learn how to create a chore chart, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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10 Reasons Why Household Chores Are Important

Whether we like it or not, household chores are a necessary part of everyday life, ensuring that our homes continue to run efficiently, and that our living environments remain organized and clean, thereby promoting good overall health and safety. Involving children in household chores gives them opportunity to become active participant in the house. Kids begin to see themselves as important contributors to the family. Holding children accountable for their chores can increase a sense of themselves as responsible and actually make them more responsible.

Children will feel more capable for having met their obligations and completed their tasks. If you let children off the hook for chores because they have too much schoolwork or need to practice a sport, then you are saying, intentionally or not, that their academic or athletic skills are most important. And if your children fail a test or fail to block the winning shot, then they have failed at what you deem to be most important.

They do not have other pillars of competency upon which to rely. By completing household tasks, they may not always be the star student or athlete, but they will know that they can contribute to the family, begin to take care of themselves, and learn skills that they will need as an adult. Here is a list of household chores for kids:

1. Sense of Responsibility

Kids who do chores learn responsibility and gain important life skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. Kids feel competent when they do their chores. Whether they’re making their bed or they’re sweeping the floor, helping out around the house gives them a sense of accomplishment. Doing daily household chores also helps kids feel like they’re part of the team. Pitching in and helping family members is good for them and it encourages them to be good citizens.

Read here a detail blog: Routine helps kids

2. Beneficial to siblings

It is helpful for siblings of kids who have disabilities to see that everyone in the family participates in keeping the family home running, each with responsibilities that are appropriate for his or her unique skill sets and abilities.

Having responsibilities like chores provides one with a sense of both purpose and accomplishment.

4. Preparation for Employment

Learning how to carry out household chore is an important precursor to employment. Chores can serve as an opportunity to explore what your child excels at and could possibly pursue as a job down the road.

5. Make your life easier

Your kids can actually be of help to you! At first, teaching these chores may require more of your time and energy, but in many cases your child will be able to eventually do his or her chores completely independently, ultimately relieving you of certain responsibilities.

6. Chores may make your child more accountable

If your child realizes the consequences of making a mess, he or she may think twice, knowing that being more tidy in the present will help make chores easier.

7. Develop fine and gross motor skills and planning abilities

Tasks like opening a clothes pin, filling and manipulating a watering can and many more actions are like a workout for the body and brain and provide practical ways to flex those muscles!

8. Teach empathy

Helping others out and making their lives easier is a great way to teach empathy. After your daughter completes a chore, you can praise and thank her, stating, “Wow… great job! Because you helped out, now Mommy has one less job to do. I really appreciate that!”

9. Strengthen bonds with pets

There is a growing body of research about how animals can help individuals with special needs. When your child feeds and cares for his pet, it strengthens their bond and makes your pet more likely to gravitate toward your child.

10. Gain an appreciation and understanding of currency

What better way to teach your child the value of a rupee than by having him earn it. After your child finishes his chores, pay him right away and immediately take him to his favorite toy store where he can buy something he wants.

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Keeping Aging Parents at Home: 5 Top Caregiving Tips

5 tips to get help and decrease stress help you keep caring for elderly at home longer term

How to care for seniors at home for as long as possible

People often say “I promised her I’d never put her in a nursing home.” or “Dad told me he never wanted to live in one of those places.”

For a variety of reasons, caregivers may choose to care for their older adult at home.

And as long as the situation is safe for everyone involved, keeping aging parents at home is a wonderful thing to do.

But it’s important to remember that senior care is one of the toughest and most stressful jobs you’ll ever have.

That’s why caregivers are at such high risk for burn out and serious health conditions .

So if you’re caring for your older adult at home, it’s essential to pace yourself.

That means you can’t be running at 110% every day. We’re human and that’s simply not sustainable over the long run.

Pacing yourself and getting assistance helps you stay as healthy as possible so you can continue providing great care.

1. Understand how much care is needed

In caregiving, many of us fall into a state where we “can’t see the forest for the trees.”

When you’re overwhelmed with a long list of caregiving To Dos, you’re so focused on the tasks that you’re not seeing the overall picture.

The first step is to find out how much care your older adult really needs.

Creating a list of daily, weekly, and monthly care tasks helps you understand how much help is needed during the day, at night, and on weekends.

You’ll realize how much supervision is needed and at which times of day.

An easy way to make a comprehensive list is to set a notepad out and make quick notes every time you or someone else helps your older adult with something.

After a week, you’ll have a good overview of what your senior needs help with and at what times of day.

To make sure everything is captured, keep the note-taking going longer to see if there’s anything that happens once or twice a month that you don’t want to forget.

2. Be realistic about how much care you can provide without harming your own health

Now that you know what your older adult’s care needs are, you can figure out if that’s something you can handle without help.

Or maybe looking over the list helps you realize that you definitely need help with a variety of tasks.

In your evaluation, think carefully about how much care you can realistically provide without harming your own health.

Keep in mind that if you take on too much, you will eventually burn out or develop a serious health condition – ultimately leaving you unable to care for anyone.

3. Get help with caregiving

Even though it might seem like finding caregiving help takes too much time and effort, remember that it’s an investment that will pay off in the future.

Finding help takes patience, effort, and creative thinking, but it will be worth it when you’re able to decrease your workload, reduce stress, and take regular breaks.

To help you spot more opportunities for getting help, keep an open mind and be flexible.

And be sure to use the list of needs you wrote down to remind you of the types of help you need.

Ideas include:

Enroll your older adult in an adult day program – socialization and care for them, much-needed rest for you
Hire in-home caregiving help to get regular breaks
Find a volunteer senior companion program in your area
Use a respite care service to get a longer break
Sign up for a meal delivery service or Meals on Wheels to reduce the number of meals you need to make
Ask family or close friends to help run errands, do some light housekeeping, or prepare some meals
Buy caregiving and household supplies in bulk or better yet, order online for home delivery. Basically, eliminate as many errands as possible to save time and energy.

4. Share the caregiving responsibility

You might be doing such an amazing job that nobody thinks you need any help caring for your older adult.

So even if you feel like you shouldn’t have to say it, ask siblings or close relatives if they’ll take on their share of responsibility so you can take much-needed breaks.

Getting help from family will be different in every situation.

For one person, it could be moving mom to the sister’s house for a year.

Another person and their sibling might take turns living with dad for 2 months at a time.

In other cases, it could mean having your sister stay at your house for a week every two months so you can get away.

If they’re willing to help, be creative and flexible. No solution will be perfect, but any help you can get will lessen the workload for you.

Check out our additional helpful tips on how to ask family to help with caregiving.

5. Reduce financial pressure

Caring for an older adult can also place a significant financial burden on your family.

Reducing caregiving costs as much as possible helps decrease the amount of financial pressure and stress.

Suggestions:

Find government and private benefits programs that help with a variety of costs
Get paid for being a family caregiver
Reduce the cost of prescription drugs
Talk with an elder law attorney about the pros and cons of spending down to qualify for Medicaid

Recommended for you:

4 Tips to Get Siblings to Help Care for Aging Parents
6 Reasons Dementia Caregivers Avoid Taking Breaks
7 Steps to Take When Aging Parents Need Help

By DailyCaring Editorial Team

Share Article on:

Get tips to handle 9 common senior home care challenges

9 Tips for Navigating Top Senior Home Care Challenges

Find a great caregiver who can safely drive seniors around town

How to Hire a Driver for Seniors: 6 Tips

To hire in-home caregivers for the elderly, thorough and effective interviews are essential

How to Interview and Hire a Caregiver for Seniors

Use these 8 helpful tips to find affordable home care for seniors

Affordable Home Care: 8 Ways to Lower Senior Care Costs

13 comments.

Thank you for shedding light on the transformative power of technology in the realm of caregiving. It’s truly amazing how innovative solutions are revolutionizing the way we provide support and care for our loved ones. From remote monitoring to smart home adaptations, technology is enhancing safety, communication, and overall quality of life for both caregivers and those in their care. This article serves as a timely reminder that as technology advances, so too does our capacity for compassion and care. Kudos to all the innovators and caregivers making a positive impact in this space!

DailyCaring

Thanks for your kind feedback! We’re so glad this article is helpful.

Susan Sangster

Need to. Put a bathroom down stairs for my 92 yr. old mother

There are many organizations that offer help with home repairs for those who qualify for their programs.

We suggest 7 helpful organizations here – 7 Sources of Home Repair Assistance for Seniors https://dailycaring.com/7-sources-of-home-repair-assistance-for-seniors/

Your local Area Agency on Aging may also be able to connect you to organizations that can help. More info here — Area Agency on Aging: Resources for Seniors https://dailycaring.com/area-agency-on-aging-resources-for-seniors/

Rita Kiefer

So insightful! Rita K

Thanks Rita! We’re so glad this article is helpful.

I found this article very helpful. I am searching for articles about the essential products to keep on hand when caring for a dementia patient and things to change around the home to help keep the person safe.

So glad this article has been useful! Essential products will really depend on the person, their regular daily routine, and their health needs.

Here are some tips on making the home a safer, more comfortable place for someone with dementia: — 13 Ways to Create a Dementia-Friendly Environment at Home https://dailycaring.com/13-ways-to-create-a-dementia-friendly-environment-at-home/ — Home Modifications for Seniors: A Room-by-Room Guide for Safety and Independence https://dailycaring.com/home-modifications-for-seniors-a-room-by-room-guide/ — Reduce Dementia Agitation with a Calm Environment: 5 Helpful Tips https://dailycaring.com/reduce-dementia-agitation-with-a-calm-environment-5-helpful-tips/ — Mirrors and Dementia: 10 Solutions for Challenging Behavior https://dailycaring.com/10-solutions-for-challenging-behavior-caused-by-mirrors-and-dementia/ — Safety Bath Mats Reduce Bathroom Fall Risk https://dailycaring.com/q-a-safe-bath-mats-for-mom/ — 4 Simple Bathroom Safety Tips for Seniors https://dailycaring.com/bathroom-safety-older-adults-grab-bars/

I really love this article on caring for your aging parent at home. Although I have so much wonderful support in my new family at my local Alzheimer’s Association and with all of moms friends at her old Senior Center and in my own friends, I still unfortunately, focus on how my siblings do not support me caring for mom at home. It can be a beautiful thing if we just all gave more time. This was a really good read for me, Thank You Daily Caring. <3

We’re so glad to hear that you and your mom have found such a supportive community 💜 It’s unfortunate that your siblings aren’t supportive, but it’s great that you’ve found others who help you keep going.

Anna Sakila

Thank you for the post. We should take time to visit and talk with our parent, share old favorite memories, and create new ones we can treasure when they’re gone.

So glad the article is helpful!

How do You Help Your Parents at Home Essay for Class 3

I feel proud of any help to my parents. In the morning I get ready myself for school. I keep books in school bag for day routine.

I water the plants on every Sunday. I also lock main entrance door and Garage everyday. I clean my computer and laptop when my Mummy says to do. I clean my clothes sometime when my parents remain busy. I serve glass of water and other little things; which my parents need. I also serve the guests with my Mummy. Usually I prepare Salad at lunch time. Sometime I also cook Omelet for my parents. Recently I painted the metal door and gate of the lawn with my father. For house keeping purpose, I enter inside of large box to keep our bed sheet, pillows, blanket etc. I take down all the washed clothes from the sun shine. When my maid servant remains absent , then I broom the room and clean the room floor. I massage our parents when they feel tired. In shopping of grocery I carry the shopping baskets. In hospital I stand in queue instead of my parents. Above all I obey my parents at all times and responds their order as quick as possible. I do not make a fuss about their orders. I leave my all works , if I found them tired for helping them. I respect and obey my parents rules. I never lie to them. I do anything with pride for my parents to make them feel proud.

It is a little bit difficult to write essay about a simple topic, because any sentence look very simple of the topic "How do you help your parent at home". Many parents or guardian may be agree with what I told above. My prudence never support to misled the children ; who are the future of the nation. Therefore one thing I would like to repeat again that first of all you force your son or daughter to write about any topic given by their schools. They may write everything wrong, but it is utmost important that they must imagine a subject. After that you allow to see this website to get an idea of the same subject. Let us read this essay. You (Guardian) can omit any line of this essay if it is not suitable for your students.

4 comments:

ALWAYS HELPS YOUR PARENTS

I gott this wweb site from my buddy who informed me regarding this site and now this tine I am browsing this web page and reading very informative pists at this place.

Hi there would you mind sharing which blog platform you're working with? I'm going to start my own blog in the near future but I'm having a difficult time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I'm looking for something completely unique. P.S My apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!

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Free At Home Parent’s Guide for Supporting Student Writing

Writing is important because it gives us the means to express ourselves. Parents often want to encourage their children to write, but aren’t sure how to help. Here are 6 ways parents can support their child’s writing development as well as a free printable support guide you can send home to parents.

Why do parents need support?

Parents often want to help , but aren’t sure where to start. I’ve shared how to help students support their children in reading and math , so today, let’s focus on how to help children write. Here are seven simple ways parents can encourage their students to write at home. I’ve also included a free printable parent guide you can send home to parents at the bottom of the post.

7 Ways Parents Can Support Their Children as Writers

Use a journal or diary.

Giving children a journal or a diary is a great way to help them get excited about writing. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy either! You can give them a regular notebook from the dollar store. If you want to make it even more exciting, let the child decorate it with markers or stickers. Give the child the opportunity to write in it often. It’s okay if they use it to draw or only write a few words and sentences. It’s a great way to give students a change to express themselves, write about their day, and get their feelings out. If you want to make it even more effective, you could journal in your own notebook at the same time.

Let them help make lists

Writing isn’t just about writing stories and longer pieces. Writing is often functional such as making lists. A great way to encourage your child to write is to let them help you. The next time you need to make a grocery list, let them help you. You can have them write some of the words or all of the words. If they only know some letters, they could write those letters every time you need to. So, if they know A, they can write the a in apples and beans. If the child isn’t writing yet, they could draw pictures for some of the things on the list. While it might make the list writing take longer, children will love to feel involved and included, and it will show them the importance of writing in a real world setting.

Write notes to each other

Who doesn’t love to receive a special note? A fun and simple way to encourage children to write at home is for parents to write notes back and forth with their child. You can tape a note to their bedroom door, put it in their lunchbox, or even use an old tissue box to make a family mailbox. If they want to make it even more exciting, they can put their note in an envelope. Encourage the child to write a note or picture back. Not only will it make them feel special, but it will encourage them to write themselves.

Let them see you writing

Child mimic what they see, so it’s really helpful for children to see their parents writing. Anytime you’re writing, whether it’s writing an email, paying bills, or filling out your planner, invite your child to join you. They don’t need to be involved in the writing, but seeing you write will show them that it’s something adults do.

Add writing to playtime

One of the easiest ways to encourage children to write is to add writing to playtime. Are you playing doctor? Make a doctor’s office sign with your child. If you’re playing restaurant, you can work together to make a menu. Doing this makes writing fun, and eventually, the child might start incorporating writing into playtime on their own.

Ask family members to write letters

Although we can communicate quickly and easily through text and email, there’s something magical about receiving a letter in the mail. Parents can encourage students to write by asking friends and family members to send their child letters periodically. When they receive a letter, the child can write back. Again, this is a real world way to show the importance of writing.

Write then type

Texting and email are a great way to communicate, but young children also need to practice writing by hand. A great way to combine both is this. If a child wants to send a text or email to a family member or a friend, have them first write it by hand, and then let them type it. This works well because it gives them a chance to practice writing by hand, and they get the instant gratification of sending an instant message.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Parents can sometimes have unrealistic writing expectations, so here are some important things to keep in mind.

All writing is valuable.
It’s okay if words are spelled incorrectly. “Inventive spelling” or spelling by sound is normal.
If students aren’t in the mood to write, it’s not worth forcing it.
Keep it fun and light so students associate writing with positive feelings.
There’s no “better” type of writing. If students only want to write lists, that’s okay.
Writing takes a lot of work, so it might take time to see improvement.
Pick a time when the student is fresh and not stressed.

If you’d like to share these tips with your students’ parents, you can download this free Parent’s Guide to Supporting Student Writing printable in my free resource library for email subscribers . Click the picture below to access it. Not an email subscriber? Sign up here for immediate access .

Find me on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , and Pinterest .

Join my FREE Facebook Club for k-2 teachers here .

Keep reading and learning about how to support parents:

Free Reading Guide for Parents
Free Math Guide for Parents
Free Phonics Guide for Parents
Free Science Guide for Parents
What to Include in a Parent Newsletter
Top 5 Ways to Send a Parent Newsletter
Help Parents Understand Why Some History is History

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Writing Guides

Helping Mother At Home (Essay Sample)

Don’t have much time to write a quality paper? Hire someone to write a college essay is a perfect choice.

Assisting With Family Chores

A mother is the most important person in a family. Every person needs her attention from cleanliness, giving directions, education, food, instilling discipline to managing all aspects including cleaning the compound. Mother is usually hard working with greatest responsibilities to support even their husbands with finances. As a result of such tremendous duties, children have the responsibility to help their mothers with family chores especially during weekends, holidays or at any moment they are instructed to do any duty. For example, children should be cleaning their rooms and study areas, watering flowers and plants, cleaning compound, dusting the house and furniture, help in hanging out the washed clothes among others. Therefore, helping mothers at home is our responsibilities as children besides making us stay fit and confident.

In most cases, when children stay beside mothers and listening to their instructions, they learn the art of doing activities. For example, cleaning itself is an art and requires skills. On the same note, allocating light duties to children at home makes them feel proud and confident as well as realizing that their existence in the family is of greater help. These children in time build high self-esteem since they contribute for the betterment of the family.

Secondly, helping mothers at home ensures positive buildup of relationships with the mother. In most cases, children take much time in schools. Therefore, helping mothers provides the best opportunity to bond with them. This is normally the best moment to share with mothers any information one feels as well as reassuring her that she is an important person. Helping the mother with such family chores is the best way of thanking her for all the good things that she has been doing to her kids. Thus, it creates the environment for bonding.

On a separate note, helping mothers at home is the perfect time of applying the practical skills gained in school. Mothers sometimes get ill and stay away from home. In such circumstances, most fathers do the cooking, doing all the shopping and planning meals for the day. However, the general cleaning of the house such as ironing, washing up, cleaning rooms entirely remains for the teens. Ironing as chores, at home is important. As a home economics student, this is the time to apply the learned skills at school besides cooking light dishes for the family, doing the shopping as well as gardening. Regarding the application of the skills learned in school, mother one time demanded that I take the responsibility of ensuring that the fridge at home is well kept and all the food items in it were arranged as required. However, she never knew that it was part of the cookery lessons that is done at school. These chores enable improved my technical skills, especially management of the fridge, monitoring the food items concerning their conditions among others. Therefore, applying different skills learned at school have been of greater benefit to the mother. I recall one time when my mom was surprised to have saved a lot of money on food expenditure. She realized that she no longer spend much due to the best ways I use to preserve the food items at home. I was motivated to assist mother most of the time at home as I realize that is also a source of learning how to do activities.

Finally, helping mother at home is a responsibility that I have to undertake. This is the moment I say “thank you” to my mother who has helped me in many ways. Ensuring that the house is in order is my priority besides being a way of getting rid of my boredom. These little chores that I have been doing at home have taught me the art of persistence, being responsible besides improving my practical skills especially on cleaning, food preservation, and management.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Want to write the perfect college application essay? We can help. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
Tell you what to say and how to say it
Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Alexa, can you help me with my child’s homework?

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Amazon Alexa smart assistant device connected at home

What did you do when you couldn’t solve a tricky maths equation?

Did you search for the answer on Google, skip doing the homework altogether and tell your teacher dog ate it, or watch as your parents asked Alexa for the answer?

As bizarre as it may sound, the latter scenario is happening at an alarming rate, as parents and grandparents struggle to help kids complete their homework – particularly mathematics.

There comes a time when homework becomes a little too advanced for parents to help with, especially as many forget how to do tricky long divisions, algebra or the names of all the triangles once they finish school . With over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices sold worldwide, people are using technology to their advantage when it comes to maths.

New data commissioned by the Department for Education ’s Skills for Life campaign and Kindred found that 54% of parents would say they ‘would struggle to know where to start’ if left to their own decisions when helping children with their maths homework.

The Skills for Life campaign is encouraging adults of all ages to up their skills and learn something new, and to boost their confidence when helping their children at home and potentially improve their own career prospects.

Of the 2,250 adults surveyed, 69% said they use the internet to help solve schoolwork problems and 20% reported using virtual assistants, like Alexa and Google Assistant, to help tutor their kids at home. Maths was revealed to cause the most angst and was voted the least favourite homework subject among parents and grandparents.

Rear view of girl writing homework on table while sitting at home

The data comes as education groups raise concerns about the growing use of AI in students’ work. Asking a virtual assistant for help on a task you plan to finish yourself is quite different to asking ChatGPT to come up with the answers for you, it raises questions about how much we rely on technology.

A 16-year-old student identified only as Fiore previously told Metro.co.uk that he turned to ChatGPT when he realised an English essay was due the next day. It’s 2024 after all, and his story serves as a stark reminder that the days of cramming the assignment into an all-nighter or turning to SparkNotes for help are long gone.

Although many people would fear plagiarism detectors or eagle-eyed lecturers spotting AI-generated essays , the student wasn’t afraid about being caught.

However, not all students are using AI to cheat and not all are using ChatGPT, with some turning to Gemini, which was developed by Google. Chatbots have also been found to be helpful for students with dyslexia when it comes to comprehending in-depth academic texts.

Jane Basnett, director of digital learning at Downe House School in Berkshire admits that homework can be tricky for parents. ‘In the old days, parents turned to the Encyclopaedia Britannica to find responses, visited the library with their child or they asked a more informed friend,’ she told Metro.co.uk. ‘They had conversations and made discoveries about different topics that perhaps they had not known about before.’

This practice, however, has changed drastically now that technology is just one tap, swipe or voice command away. ‘Finding the knowledge is one thing, understanding it and engaging with it properly is another.

‘Parents need to encourage their child to understand the GenAI output and to put their own responses together.

‘These are just the sort of conversations that teachers are having with their students in classrooms across the country. Gen AI (generative artificial intelligence) is a tool that can very quickly do your homework for you but in doing so, it takes away the key important elements of education: learning, discovering and critical thinking.’

One dad, Paul Duggan, 68, from London made a huge life change after realising he couldn’t help his daughter with her homework. He completed a Skills for Life Numeracy course in 2020, when his daughter Rebecca was 10, after she inspired him to sign up.

He has since gone on to achieve a Functional Skills qualification in maths, which is equivalent to a Maths GCSE.

‘I always had a difficult relationship with maths,’ he said. ‘I think a lot of people do. When my daughter, Rebecca, started needing more help with her homework I realised that if I didn’t tackle my fear of numbers now, not only would I be unable to help, but I’d also risk passing on my negative relationship with maths, which I certainly didn’t want to do.’

Not all parents will be able to find the time to brush up on their maths skills, as they often have to balance full-time jobs, the needs of other children, the cost of living and general life stuff. But for those like Paul who could, it has proven to be invaluable.

‘Signing up to the Skills for Life course was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s helped boost my confidence with everyday sums, and I’ve also grown a lot closer to my daughter, Rebecca, in the process, helping her solve equations and more complex problems as she studies for her maths GSCE.’

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Carol R. Hughes, Ph.D., LMFT, and Bruce R. Fredenburg, M.S., LMFT

I'm an Adult Child of Divorcing Parents. What Will Help Me?

Two sisters share what helped them cope during their parent's divorce..

Posted May 30, 2024 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

The Challenges of Divorce
Find a therapist to heal from a divorce
Adult children of "gray divorce" face identity crises, strained relationships, and emotional turmoil.
Coping strategies include intense physical exercise, therapy, writing, and setting clear boundaries.
Strong family support and understanding between siblings can be crucial for physical and emotional healing.

This is the third in a series of posts about the experiences, feelings, and healing journey of two sisters, who are adult children of gray divorce. Read the previous post here .

For over 30 years, couples over 50 have been divorcing in record-setting numbers worldwide. Researchers have named this phenomenon "The Gray Divorce Revolution" and predict it will triple by 2030. The adult children of these divorcing couples frequently say they are unprepared to handle what is happening in their family and feel painfully alone.

I spoke with Sophia and Eleana* (not my patients), two sisters who were adults when their parents began their divorce process. Sophia is a 27-year-old journalist based in the UK, and Eleana is a 30-year-old talent management /development expert and a career coach living in Germany.

Carol: You refer to the "limbo phase" of your parents' divorce journey. What was the most significant for you during that phase?

Eleana: The most significant way that the limbo phase impacted me was in my relationship with our father because it made it even harder for me to rebuild trust with him. It was a phase of almost promises. Those were either communicated promises or promises that I would try to derive from a situation. It often led to situations of disappointment. That made it harder for me to rebuild a neutral relationship with our father.

Carol: What other difficulties arose for you at that time?

Eleana: Another significant difficulty for me in the limbo phase was that I could tell how much our mother was struggling as the person who was left behind in the relationship and was having to rebuild trust in someone who had an affair. My mindset of "I need to build new relationships individually with our parents" was impossible for me to do. Honestly, I was aware as an adult that I was in a situation that was extremely emotionally loaded and full of emotions, anger , and sadness. It was tough for me to build a neutral relationship with anyone.

Carol: How did the closeness of your family affect you?

Sophia: We are fortunate to be so close as a family. Not everyone has that. And especially as third-culture kids, having moved around for so many years, family was very important to us. Holidays and traditions became even more important to us when we were living abroad. So, our mom was always trying to keep that alive. We're Germans and love Christmas, which was a big thing every year in our household. But at the same time, we were very codependent and up in each other's business all the time. When that broke apart, there was that feeling of, "Who am I now? What role do I play now?"

This was not just in relation to our family members, but also to ourselves. I had a full-blown identity crisis afterward of really questioning my roots because family means stability, it means safety, it means home. And when that broke apart, I had to rethink everything. It's even more vital as an adult because you're so aware of everything.

Eleana, this has been going on for a very long time, and you and I have been on a similar journey of trying to deal with it. There are a lot of things that I did with you or shared with you. What helped you cope in the last few years?

Eleana: It varied from phase to phase. The first phase for me was trying to let go of a lot of anger that I had when it came to coping. I did that by going to the gym. I went to the gym seven days a week and did hardcore, high-intensity training. I was almost purging everything in my head as I was doing intensive exercises, trying to get out physically what I wasn't verbalizing. So, one way of coping was physical exercise, getting out there, being active, and getting that emotion out that way. That was one of the main ones for me.

Carol: What else helped you cope?

Eleana: After around two or three years, I decided to start seeing a therapist because I felt like I was very stuck in how I was progressing with things. I noticed that many things related to our family started drifting into my life, even my professional life and my life with my now husband. I decided I needed to seek some help, and I started with more psychotherapeutic work. Then, I transitioned into somatic therapy and even reiki, which is more on an energetic level. I tried everything out there to see what would work best for me. It was a nice holistic approach that really supported me.

Another thing that helped me was learning how to communicate my boundaries , learning how to communicate when I needed space and why I needed space so that it wasn't passive-aggressive , but a very clear, "This is what's happening for me, and can we please not talk about X, Y, Z, so that I can be at my best for you." That was the conversation. So, open communication and boundary setting were very important.

And finally, my relationship with my sisters really helped me cope throughout the whole time because my friends didn't understand. They hadn't gone through it, and other family members didn't understand. They were always curious about how our mother was doing or how our father was doing. They weren't ever asking about us. So, we sisters were the only people who understood what was happening and what was going on. Even though we had vastly different reactions to the situations, we had the preexisting relationship to respect what the other person was going through, accept it, and listen. I count myself really lucky that we had that. And I'm aware that not everyone has that. So that was a huge one.

Sophia: For me, there are a lot of similarities: the holistic approach to therapy, and a lot of podcasts and books. I'm a journalist, so I love to write. Writing down my feelings, journaling, and writing letters to people, even if it didn't mean I sent them off to them, was really a useful tool. We always recommend trying different things to anyone. Even if you don't think it would help you, you'd be surprised by what approach can support you.

* Names and details changed to protect patient confidentiality.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory .

Susan L. Brown and I-Fen Lin, “The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults, 1990-2010,” Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 67, no. 6 (2012): 731–41, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbs089.

Carol R. Hughes, Ph.D., LMFT , and Bruce R. Fredenburg, M.S., LMFT , are psychotherapists and co-authors of Home Will Never Be the Same Again: A Guide for Adult Children of Gray Divorce .

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Congressman’s son steals the spotlight while his dad delivers remarks at the Capitol

A U.S. representative's 6-year-old son became a hit with news junkies after videos of him making hilarious faces during his dad's speech on the House floor went viral.

On June 3, Rep. John Rose of Tennessee brought his young son Guy with him to the Capitol where he stole the show by sticking out his tongue as his dad spoke out against former president Donald Trump’s recent felony convictions on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment during the 2016 presidential election.

In a video posted by C-SPAN on X , Rose speaks while unaware that young Guy is sitting behind him mugging for the camera.

Congressman's son puts on quite the performance on the House floor

Guy begins his show by grinning for the camera before sticking out his tongue and rolling his eyes upward. At other points, the fidgety child busies himself by making various shapes with his hands.

He also plays with a green squeeze toy and waves directly at the camera.

“This is what I get for telling my son Guy to smile at the camera for his little brother,” Rose wrote alongside C-SPAN's video while sharing it with his own followers on X .

Rose shares Guy and a younger son, Sam, with his wife, Chelsea, according to his official website.

Guy's new fans celebrated his star-making C-SPAN debut on X.

"He found the camera immediately, lol," wrote one.

"Kiddo is adorable," said another.

Others compared the little boy's cute antics to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew, who at age 7 made New Yorkers laugh when he upstaged his dad's January 1994 inaugural address by waving and blowing kisses to the crowd.

The younger Giuliani, who also splashed his dad's legs with cold water after knocking over a pitcher, inspired a hilarious “Saturday Night Live” sketch starring Chris Farley as him and Kevin Nealon as his politician dad.

Gina Vivinetto is a writer for TODAY.com.

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What does it take to buy a house? Increasingly, Mom and Dad.

More first-time homebuyers are relying on their parents to co-sign loans and contribute to down payments.

Home buyers are increasingly turning to family members, most often parents, for help buying a house in overpriced and undersupplied markets, reflecting a shift in the way many families finance homeownership.

The share of young home buyers relying on older mortgage co-signers is as high as it has been in at least 30 years, according to a Freddie Mac analysis of its home loans. In 1994, 1.6 percent of first-time home buyers under 35 had a co-borrower age 55 or older. By 2022, after a pandemic-era spike, that figure had more than doubled to 3.7 percent, matching a high set in 2015.

A separate analysis of federal mortgage data set by Redfin suggests the trend in co-signers above 55 years old on younger home buyers’ purchases picked up even more in 2023.

Meanwhile, the share of home buyers in their 20s, 30s and early 40s receiving financial help for a down payment is also rising, after declining for much of the past five years. Overall, 12 percent of home buyers relied on down payment help from friends and family as of April, up from 9 percent last year, according to survey data from the National Association of Realtors. The youngest buyers — ages 25 to 33 — were the most likely to receive familial help, with nearly 1 in 4 receiving cash gifts or loans toward their purchases.

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“The housing market is an incredibly unaffordable place right now,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. “People who are succeeding are coming in with a lot of cash and large down payments — and often, family support.”

The trend of more younger home buyers, who are more often first-timers, seeking parental help to reach a middle-class milestone is just the latest sign of growing disparities between younger generations and older ones who have had more opportunities over the past 20 years to lock in cheaper mortgages. And it’s happening at a time when more young people are living at home and mortgage rates have hit 20-year highs.

As home buying becomes increasingly out of reach to first-timers, Realtors confirm that more parents are stepping in to help, sometimes taking out loans against their existing homes to fund their children’s. More parents are also getting involved in the homebuying process from the beginning, considering joint purchases less of a handout to their children and more of a long-term family investment, brokers said.

Eve Brown, who lives in Cincinnati and works two jobs, received a $16,000 down payment from her mother, a retired accountant. And when her income wasn’t high enough to quality for the $92,000 mortgage, Brown’s mother co-signed her loan as well, giving the 42-year-old her first inroad into the housing market.

“I always wanted to buy a home, and I really didn’t want to have my parents’ help,” Brown said. “But it got to the point where it was just obviously better to buy — and no way I could do it on my own.”

The housing market has slowed precipitously since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates two years ago. Mortgage costs have gone from all-time lows of about 2.6 percent to more than 7 percent, making it several times more costly to finance a home purchase. The last time borrowing costs were this high was in the early 2000s, a generation ago.

At the same time, home prices, which spiked during the pandemic, remain high with the median at $420,800, according to census data. The result is an increasingly unaffordable market that isn’t likely to improve any time soon: Goldman Sachs this month said it expects home values to rise another 4.3 percent in 2024, straining a housing market already hovering at record-low affordability.

José Matos, a guide at a Miami art museum, is searching for a home with his mother. The 24-year-old, who still lives with his parents, says they have come up with an arrangement: His parents will cover a $50,000 down payment and co-sign the mortgage, as long as Matos makes monthly payments.

His mother, Lizet Rodriguez, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic in 2014, bought her first home at 43, which gave her an “intense sense of joy and security,” she said. Now she wants to pass on this milestone to her children.

“As a mother, I want to do all I can to give my children a better future,” said Rodriguez, 61, who runs a short-term rental business in Miami. “We are first-generation immigrants in this country, and we have to stick together and help each other if we want to get ahead.”

Matos is among a growing group of 20- and 30-somethings who are moving straight from their childhood bedrooms into their first homes. Roughly 1 in 3 young adults are living with their parents, often to save money, an arrangement that picked up during the pandemic and has continued, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data.

That shift reflects a new economic reality in which parents are playing a bigger role in supporting their children financially, well into adulthood. Some 44 percent of adults in their 20s and early 30s said they received financial help from their parents in the past year, most often for household expenses like groceries or utilities, according to a January report by Pew .

Increasingly, those financial ties to Mom and Dad are stretching into the homebuying process and beyond. Nearly 1 in 5 young adults said their parents have helped with rent or mortgage payments in the past year.

“These days it almost feels like, ‘Duh, I have to use my parents’ money, there’s no other option,’” said Kristina Modares, a real estate agent in Austin who works primarily with first-time home buyers. “It’s definitely harder for younger people to buy right now, and the boomer generation has a lot more money than Millennials or Gen Z has.”

A record 16 percent of her firm’s clients “partnered” with a friend or relative to purchase a home last year, up from 7 percent the year before, Modares said.

Hayden Smith, who works for a tech start-up in Camarillo, Calif., was hesitant to accept help from his parents when they first offered it. He had saved up for a down payment by living with them during the pandemic and finally made enough to comfortably cover monthly expenses. But with home prices and interest rates steadily rising in the past couple of years, the 29-year-old felt his purchasing power slip away.

“Part of me wanted to say, ‘No, I don’t want to take it,’” said Smith, who bought a $420,000 condo this past summer. “But I don’t see things getting easier or better or more attainable in the future. It sounds bad to say out loud, but I finally thought, ‘I may as well take what I can now, before the market gets even worse.’”

The increased reliance on parental help is widening the divide between those who can afford a house and those who can’t. Parents who own homes are more likely to have the resources to help their adult children, reinforcing the crucial role of homeownership in lifting long-term wealth. As a result, economists say it has become even harder for first-time home buyers without familial help to break into the market.

“The bigger problem is that young Americans who don’t have family money are often shut out of homeownership,” Fairweather of Redfin wrote in a recent report. “They don’t have a pot of family money to dip into. This contributes to wealth inequality and often prevents young people from gaining economic ground on their peers who come from more privileged backgrounds.”

In the past decade, homeowners have seen their e quity balloon by more than $100,000 on average, giving them 40 times the wealth of renters, according to an analysis by NAR. Some parents have been able to tap into that extra wealth — by borrowing against their homes at low interest rates, to help finance their children’s purchases at lower rates than banks.

In Orange County, Calif., Khang Nguyen and his wife bought their first home last year for $1.2 million. They were able to put down nearly 50 percent as a down payment, thanks to a $325,000 loan from his parents, who had taken out a home-equity line of credit a few years ago when interest rates were low.

Now Nguyen makes two monthly payments each month: $4,700 to the bank and $5,000 to his parents.

“I was prepared to take out a 75 percent mortgage, but my folks were like, ‘Actually, why don’t you use this money and avoid the interest,’” said Khang, 36, a physician. “Obviously it’s a challenging market here in Southern California, but having access to capital from family at essentially no cost is really helpful.”

The increasing role of parents in the housing market is a precursor to what economists say will be a massive generational transfer of wealth in the coming years, as older Americans leave behind trillions to their heirs. Some of that is already making its way into the housing market.

Emily King, 30, and her husband are preparing to buy their first home in Akron, Ohio, thanks to a $17,000 gift from King’s mother, who inherited the funds from her father. Without it, King says there’s no way they would have been able to buy and fix up a $260,000 house.

King, a bakery manager, and her husband, who works for an electronics distributor, make about $115,000 a year. Still, she says, the $2,200 monthly mortgage payments will be a stretch for their budget after the $1,500 a month they spend on child care for their two young children.

“My husband and I never thought we could buy a house, especially with day care. It’s so wildly expensive and impossible to save any money,” she said. “The only reason we were able to afford this is because of the state it’s in — no AC, no dishwasher, with a septic tank and a well. And because of my mom.”

Drowning is a top cause of death for young children. Here's what parents should know.

Drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood, especially for children under 4 years old.
There are many steps parents can take to help prevent drowning at home, at a public pool and around natural bodies of water.
Drowning is fast, silent and not what you'd expect. It can happen in as little as 30 seconds.

Summer is nearly here, which means families will be heading to pools for fun and relief on hot-weather days. But it's also a good time to revisit ways to keep kids safe so those joyful days don't turn into tragedy.

May is National Drowning Prevention Month intentionally because it's right before pools and lakes open up around the country. Drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood, especially for children under 4 years old, the American Academy of Pediatrics states , and 69% of those drownings happen during non-swim times, according to Modern Pediatrics.

Though early exposure to water and swimming is important for water safety, there are other measures parents should take to prevent the worst outcomes possible at home, on vacation or near a pool or other bodies of water.

Here are tips parents and caregivers should follow to help prevent drownings.

Water safety at home

Babies can drown in as little as one inch of water, so of course, never leaving a child unattended is the most important rule to follow.

It can be beneficial to learn CPR if you do find yourself in an emergency situation. The American Red Cross has detailed instructions on how to administer CPR on toddlers and babies safely.

It can be hard to monitor everything at once, especially when you have multiple kids. But there are more steps you can take to help prevent drowning.

Safe Kids Worldwide , a nonprofit organization working to reduce unintentional injuries to children, shares the following tips for water safety at home:

Empty all tubs, buckets, containers and kids' pools immediately after use and store them upside down out of reach.
Keep lids to toilets and doors to bathrooms and laundry rooms closed when not in use.
Install fences at least 4 feet tall with self-closing and self-latching gates around pools.
Stop Drowning Now suggests installing alarms on the house door that leads to the pool area. You can also purchase a floating pool alarm or a below-water alarm in the pool. An alarm isn’t a substitute for appropriate fencing and supervision, but it can help.
Keep rescue equipment (such as a shepherd's hook or life preserver) and a telephone by the pool, the Arc of California states.

Water safety when at a public pool

The National Drowning Prevention Alliance outlines five layers of protections for safely enjoying a day at a public pool with young kids, especially those under 5 years of age.

"Drowning is fast, silent and not what you'd expect," the NDPA states. "And it can happen in as little as 30 seconds – about as long as it takes to reply to a text message."

Drowning is preventable with the following layers of protection:

Exposure to water can reduce the risk of drowning for up to 90% for children ages 1 to 4, the NDA states. Infant swim lessons are so important. Children can learn to float and then swim, applying an added layer of security for if they ever fall in.
For kids who lack water competency, life jackets are non-negotiable.
When around a pool, make sure there's a designated water watcher, whose sole job it is to watch the kids around water.

Water safety around natural bodies of water

Family fun at lakes and other natural bodies of water are memories to hold on to, because they usually involve celebrations, holidays and larger family gatherings. That's why it's extra important for parents to be mindful of keeping their eyes on their kids. Do not consume too much alcohol while supervising children.

As previously stated, knowing CPR is important for safety purposes, and for outdoor adventures specifically, here are some things to keep in mind from Massachusetts Injury Prevention and Control program :

Make sure your child has a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket on when around water. Do not use air-filled or foam toys such as "water wings," "noodles" or inner tubes, in place of life jackets.
Teach kids that it is dangerous to play rough or climb on each other in the water.
Select swimming sites that have lifeguards whenever possible, but keep in mind that a lifeguard is there to enforce rules, scan the area and provide rescue intervention. They cannot watch each child.
Whenever infants and toddlers are in or around water an adult should be within an arm's length at all times providing "touch supervision."
Don’t let your child swim in an area with strong moving currents in the water.

The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI. Learn more .

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Dozens of cicadas surrounding a portion of a narrow tree trunk.

Opinion Guest Essay

Kindness in the Time of Cicadapocalypse

Supported by

By Dina Fine Maron

Photographs by Aaron Hardin

Ms. Maron is a science writer.

May 25, 2024

After more than a decade sipping tree sap underground, as many as a trillion cicadas are now emerging en masse for a blockbuster bug bash, a meeting of two broods that have not surfaced at the same time in over 200 years. Some people are calling it the cicadapocalypse , but this once-in-a-lifetime event is cause for jubilation. It may even make us better people, at least for a while.

The cicadas’ loud, rhythmic songs will reverberate from trees across 16 states, the latest rare, natural wonder to capture public interest. Like the recent solar eclipse and the Northern Lights in the United States, such natural phenomena can take us outside ourselves — and literally take us outside — allowing us to feel awe-struck.

Two fingers holding up a cicada in front of a very bright light.

Such experiences are critical to making us happier and kinder. Psychologists have found that the wonders of nature can inspire a collective sense of awe that we are often missing in our daily lives, prompting people to share, care and assist. That suggests our focus on this extraordinary cicada event may help us feel more connected and part of something larger, and we may consequently act more generously and compassionately.

That doesn’t mean I’m all cicada love. When a cicada group snagged headlines and blanketed the sidewalks of Washington, D.C., in 2021, I wasn’t exactly overcome with rapture, as the large insects repeatedly flew into our baby stroller and amassed on our windshield.

Every 221 years, these two cicada broods emerge together

There are 15 broods of periodical cicadas that inhabit the United States. This spring, for the first time since 1803, Brood XIII and Brood XIX are emerging simultaneously and overlapping in eastern Illinois.

2024, 17-year

2024, 13-year

Other cicada brood habitat

2021, 17-year

But it was valuable to take the time to notice their sheer volume and learn that they are widely misunderstood — they don’t bite and aren’t poisonous, and your pet won’t get sick from eating a small number of them. It reminded me that though humans are apex predators, we are part of a greater system. Being part of that experience alongside my fellow Washingtonians helped build camaraderie. Strangers who otherwise may have avoided eye contact looked up and stopped to talk, even if it was just to complain about the cicada swarms.

Similar conversations may now be occurring in the South and the Midwest, though reactions to the cacophonous cicada event are mixed. Last month, the Newberry County sheriff’s office in South Carolina reported that it had fielded a wave of concerned phone calls about the cicada sounds — they can sound like a siren, a whine or a roar. “Unfortunately it is the sounds of nature,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post . In Chicago, the dual emergence has led to more creative collaborations, fueling a summer-long cicada art project .

Maybe we’re wired to embrace one another after such events to help us function in society. John Zelenski, a psychologist at Carleton University in Ontario, has explored how exposure to nature affects our decision-making. He and his colleagues published research in 2015 that found when a group of undergraduates were split up to view short nature videos or videos about topics like architecture, the students who viewed the nature videos subsequently tended to act more cooperatively and in ways that supported sustainability in a simulated group fishing task.

This is unsettled research, but Dr. Zelenski does believe that, at the very least, these shared experiences could result in a positive mood boost. I really hope that’s the case.

The cicadas will spend the waning days of their short lives in bacchanalian fashion, seeking to sing, mate and lay eggs before they perish. But their mere presence is one of the world’s remaining mysteries: Scientists still don’t truly understand why the bugs appear in such specific and distinct cycles.

Each bug, with its clear-membrane wings, bulbous eyes and sturdy body, is a striver, worthy of celebration. The cicada’s buzzy behavior, including the calls to attract mates and register alarm, will help ensure that, in the years to come, brood members will rise again on their respective 13-year and 17-year timelines.

If all goes well, descendants of the two cicada broods will sing together again in 2245, hopefully inspiring awe anew.

Dina Fine Maron’s work has appeared in National Geographic, Scientific American, Newsweek and elsewhere. Aaron Hardin is a photographer based in Jackson, Tenn. These photos were taken in Nashville and Mount Pleasant, Tenn.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

People Are On Their Knees Begging Nepo Babies To Acknowledge Their Privilege After Zooey Deschanel Became The Latest Star To Insist That Her Parents Didn’t Help Her Career

"My mom would coach me when I didn’t have an acting coach," Zooey went on to say. "I would have so many great discussions about film and filmmaking with my dad."

BuzzFeed Staff

It’s fair to say that nepo baby discourse really entered the mainstream at the end of 2022, when New York Magazine published an article breaking down the “nepo-baby boom” in Hollywood.

Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow and Judd Apatow on the red carpet

The article dissected the rise of celebrity children such as Maude Apatow and Lily-Rose Depp , and the accompanying attention-grabbing cover immediately went viral.

And although more than a year has passed since then, the conversation around nepotism in the celebrity world is still going strong in the year 2024.

In February, Dakota Johnson sparked backlash when she called the nepo baby debate “lame” as well as “incredibly annoying and boring.” If you didn’t know, the Madame Web star is the daughter of famous actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson.

Dakota Johnson with her mom Melanie Griffith

In March, actor Ryan Phillippe admitted that he gets annoyed and “offended by” nepotism comments as he discussed his and Reese Witherspoon ’s children’s decision to enter the showbiz world.

Ryan Phillippe with his son Deacon on the red carpet

While 20-year-old Deacon is pursuing a music career, 24-year-old Ava is keen to “figure out” a career in acting like her famous parents.

And Zooey Deschanel has now stepped up to be the face of nepotism discourse in April, with the New Girl and Elf star insisting that her parents did not make it easier for her to establish a career in acting.

Zooey Deschanel with bangs and updo, wearing a dress with bejeweled strap details, posing at an event

If you’re wondering, Zooey’s dad is Caleb Deschanel, a cinematographer who has worked on everything from Titanic to The Godfather , receiving six Academy Award nominations in the process.

Caleb Deschanel, cinematographer, with daughter Zooey Deschanel and wife Mary Jo Deschanel

Her mom is Twin Peaks ’ star Mary Jo Deschanel née Weir, and Zooey’s sister, Emily Deschanel is also a successful actor, starring in Bones and Spider-Man 2 , among other projects.

Zooey Deschanel and Emily Deschanel smiling for photographers at an event

But Zooey is confident that she and her sister do not owe their careers in the industry to their mom and dad, saying on The School of Greatness podcast: “It’s funny because people be like, ‘Oh, nepotism’, I’m like, ‘no.’”

Zooey Deschanel in elegant black dress with one shoulder detail and a bow accessory in her hair

“My dad’s a DP [director of photography, which is another term for cinematographer],” she continued. “No one’s getting jobs because their dad’s a DP. It’s definitely not [nepotism.]”

Zooey went on to admit that having parents in the industry was a huge help creatively, explaining: “My mom would coach me when I didn’t have an acting coach, she would help me, read lines with me. She’d be so supportive.”

“I would have so many great discussions about film and filmmaking with my dad. They both would help me. My dad would also read lines with me,” she continued, before acknowledging that “automatically” having a “community” was a great help for her acting pursuit.

Still, some have been left unimpressed by how dismissive Zooey was about her father’s role in her career as they expressed their exasperation at nepo babies repeatedly failing to acknowledge the privilege that comes with their parents having connections in the industry.

Zooey Deschanel, Mary Jo Deschanel, Caleb Deschanel and Emily Deschanel

Sharing Zooey’s quote to X, formerly Twitter, one person wrote : “I think what gets lost every time someone talks about this is a refusal to acknowledge that growing up around the industry *does* give you more insights and connections into how to break in than someone who grows up in Iowa with a dad who is a mailman.”

“why don’t nepo babies realize that your parent simply being able to connect you to one person or get you into the right room and get you even the smallest job to get a foot in the door makes you a nepo baby??” another asked . “your parent doesn’t have to be scorsese to make you a nepo baby.”

“Your parents aint work that damn hard for you to deny the step up they gave you,” somebody else tweeted .

One more wrote : “There’s nothing wrong with being a nepo baby especially when you’re talented but don’t act like your parents didn’t put you in a better position to succeed than others due to their connections in the industry.”

“I love zooey but i'll never understand celebs treating the phrase nepo baby like a slur,” another user said . “it’s actually really cool to have successful parents when you're humble and gracious about it!!!!”

Zooey Deschanel with updo hair, fringe, and drop earrings

Meanwhile, others admitted that Zooey’s recent comments were the first time they’d even heard about her nepotism. One person joked : “i had no idea zooey was a nepo baby and now the only reason i know is because she's acting like a nepo baby in defence of being a nepo baby and that makes her a loser.”

Zooey has not publicly acknowledged the response to her comments, but we will let you know if she does!

Topics in this article

Zooey Deschanel

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Conclusion. Helping my parents at home is a responsibility I gladly shoulder. It's a way of expressing gratitude for their endless sacrifices and also a means of personal growth. Through these actions, I learn vital life skills, from financial management to emotional intelligence. More importantly, it fosters a sense of unity and love within ...
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Drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood, especially for children under 4 years old. There are many steps parents can take to help prevent drowning at home, at a public pool and around ...
Opinion
Kindness in the Time of Cicadapocalypse. Ms. Maron is a science writer. After more than a decade sipping tree sap underground, as many as a trillion cicadas are now emerging en masse for a ...
Zooey Deschanel Called Out For Nepo Baby Comments
Zooey went on to admit that having parents in the industry was a huge help creatively, explaining: "My mom would coach me when I didn't have an acting coach, she would help me, read lines with me. She'd be so supportive." "I would have so many great discussions about film and filmmaking with my dad. They both would help me.