I have a teenaged niece and nephew who despite given certain guidance for studying still performs poorly in school. How do you handle your kids academics?

Even though I have not raised teens yet, I would suggest you encourage them as much as you can and let them know that you are behind them if they need you.

I talk with their teachers a lot and try to find out what the difficulties are. I sit with them at homework in an effort to understand how they are thinking through the problem. Still the kids might need spe******t help that we might miss.

Its true that encouragement goes a long way. Many kids are not motivated to start with and just shoved off to school to get out of the parents hair. Is there anything this teen is interested in?

My best suggestion would be to take some time with them every time you see them, to just sit down at a table and help them study.

Now, you don't have to do this for hours on end. Even as little as 15-30 minutes each visit to study and such should help.

Try to get the kids parents in on the act too, and see if they can offer some sort of incentive to their children for studying.

I agree, encouragement and more importantly praise is key. My mom expected nothing less than A's. I was a gifted and talented labeled child and in honor/AP all through school so why shouldn't I get perfect grades? If I brought home less I got nagged and yelled at. If I brought home straight A's I didn't even get a pat on the back. Needless to say it was a bit wearing and if I hadn't wanted to get into a good college I would have slacked off since I couldn't win either way.

Alot of people use money or things to reward good grades, but I think family time works better. If the child gets good grades promise a picnic or a hiking trip or something they would enjoy, with everyone from the family. Even a pizza night to congratulate them would be great with everyone talking about how great they did.