What would you do if you can't answer kid's questions

Im sure that a lot of us would struggle now with our childrens homework,its not as easy as we think!I would more than likey have to say something like ..well lets look it up together..then put the internet on and see what it had to say!!with the mathematics of today i would be totally stuck!!yes im ok at the basic maths but after that im stuck!!algebra and logarythms mean nothing to me!!and the metric measurements spell trouble to me too ,as I was brought up when we used the metric system.So dont whatever you do feel that you have failed your child in anyway,just explain to them that it was a long time ago since you were at school,and there are certain things that you need to check up on yourself.

It's allways best to be honest with kids because they will know when you are lying and making stuff up and you would want kids to tell you the trueth either. In this modern society it's no longer just about remembering the stuff you learn in school but also about learning how to get to data and info you need in efficient ways. This is also something we get in college these days and is a very important part of the studies; not just what you present but how you get it. If you are not sure about the photosynthesis you could help them search the internet for it and help them define sites that have quality content and can be thrusted and which not. Or take them to the library to find books on it. You shouldn't be embarressed because no one can remember everything especially if you don't use it daily. Like I said it's more important to be a rolemodel in being honest and learn them how to find their own way finding information then to just answer questions because knowing how to find info you want will last you a life time and is very usefull when you come up with questions again and no one is around. You can answer yourself this way and that makes you independant.

As a parent, that kind of thing happens a lot. What I used to do is just say, gee, I don't really know...let's find out the answer to that and look it up and see. By doing that it lets the kids know that we are not perfect, we're just human like everybody else. It also provides a good opportunity to look something up in a book, or over the internet. By not shoving the question aside, they will see the importance of looking up information, and that you take their questions seriously enough to find out the answer 'with' them. My children always helped in an active search to find out, and they learned how to look things up in the library (with help) and that in turn helped them when they got into school. Don't be embarrassed, or they will learn to be embarrassed when THEY don't know the answer to something. The 'let's find out together' method shows them more about confidence and a proactive attititude than embarrassment ever could! Anyways, it worked extrememly well with me and my kids, all the way through their school years. In the end, they learned to love to study and to pursue the answers to their own questions.

I often find my son's (just finished 4th grade) math homework, in particular, HARD. I often say to him, "I didn't learn THIS stuff until I was in 7th or 8th grade!" Now that doesn't explain why I don't know it now, but really, teaching methods have changed, and sometimes I think we can't understand what the teachers are driving at in their questions because we were never taught by the same method. For instance, I remember one time when the point in my son's math homework seemed to be to guess at the solution to a problem, then work it backwards to see if you were right. I could not comprehend that, or see the point, but that's what he was supposed to be doing. I just told him to do the best he could and that he probably understood it better than I do. That inspires confidence in kids I guess, if nothing else.