Managing Resistance to Learning in the Lockdown

First came pandemic home-schooling. Now comes an epidemic of Children Refusing to Be Home-Schooled. One of mine inverts into a headstand as soon as an assignment appears, as if tipping upside down is the only escape from lockdown.

If it seems that opposition is growing, it probably is. “Parents previously faced resistance over expectations at home,” says child psychologist Ross Greene, author of The Explosive Child and Raising Human Beings. “Now they’re on the hook for school expectations, too, so they’ve got double the resistance.” Yep. Here’s what to do when your kids offer little more than denial and defiance in response to your open-hearted efforts to educate them.