My Child Is Struggling in School and I Don’t Have Time to Help – What Can I Do?

When Love Meets Limitations: The Quiet Guilt So Many Parents Carry

It’s 7:30 p.m. You’ve barely finished dinner, the laundry sits in a heap, work emails are dinging your phone, and your child is curled up with a school notebook looking lost. You want to sit next to them, patiently explain fractions, help fix that messy paragraph on ecosystems—but you simply can’t. Not tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow. And that guilt? It’s deep, real, and painful.

You’re not alone. Hundreds of parents feel this tug-of-war between professional responsibilities and the desire to support their children’s learning. And it's especially hard when those children are struggling—with schoolwork that confuses them, with homework that spells stress, or with feelings of self-doubt that start creeping in far too early.

Understanding What “Struggling” Really Means

When a child is having difficulties in school, it often shows up in many shades: missing assignments, frustrations with reading, inattentiveness during homework, or even unexplained stomach aches on Monday mornings. These signs are whispers. They’re saying: “Something’s not clicking” or “I feel like I’m not good enough.”

But supporting a struggling learner doesn’t always require hours of academic coaching. Sometimes, what they need most is not necessarily a parent who explains math, but a parent who makes it okay to try—and fail—and try again. That kind of support can take many forms, even if your schedule is tight.

Small Shifts That Create Big Support

If you feel overwhelmed and short on hours, try zooming out. What if your role isn’t to replace the teacher or tutor, but to build the container that makes learning possible, even joyful?

Here are ways to support without getting caught in a nightly homework slog:

• Make space, even if it’s small: Your child needs a consistent sense that school matters. That might mean a 10-minute check-in during breakfast: “Anything you’re a little stuck on today?” or “What’s one thing you’d love to feel proud of by Friday?”
• Inject learning into their world: If evenings are too packed, think about car rides, showers, mealtimes. For kids who struggle with reading or writing, verbal storytelling and discussion can be incredibly effective. That’s where tools that turn written lessons into audio adventures—some personalized with your child’s own name—can make review sessions something they look forward to. (You might want to explore how the Skuli App does exactly that.)
• Outsource instruction (but not encouragement): Whether through teachers, tutors, or educational platforms, targeted help is valuable. But what children crave from parents isn’t expertise—it’s belief. A simple “I see how hard you’re trying” matters. A lot.

When Time Is Tight, Connection Matters More Than Correction

It’s easy to slip into the role of homework enforcer: checking the planner, barking reminders, correcting mistakes. But especially for kids 6 to 12, those rituals can backfire. They start to associate school with stress and pressure—especially when time with you already feels limited.

Instead, consider shifting into what educators sometimes call the “coach role.” You’re not there to give answers. You’re helping them learn how to break a big assignment down, how to ask for help, and how to feel good even about small wins. For some parents, this has meant doing homework near their child, rather than with them—sitting together while you answer emails and they read aloud a passage about volcanoes.

If evenings are chaotic, this article offers a gentle guide to smoothing out those nighttime routines.

Supporting a Struggling Learner Without Burning Out

You have every right to feel exhausted. But you also have options. Over the years, some parents have shared creative approaches that made a big difference in how their child viewed school—without adding more stress at home:

• Gamify revising: Transform a photo of class notes or a textbook page into a quiz. Some digital tools allow your child to become the “quizmaster,” testing you or siblings on the same content they’re learning. That switch from passive to active learning is powerful.
• Audio as ally: If your child is an auditory learner—or simply tired of textbooks—try playing concepts as audio files. Whether it’s multiplication facts set to music or history facts woven into a story, turning passive reading into immersive audio is a game-changer. And yes, it’s totally okay if they listen while brushing their teeth.
• Reconnect through fun: Sometimes, academic breakthroughs happen after moments of connection: baking together while talking about units of measurement, finding constellations and chatting about astronomy. If your child has drifted from joy in learning, this article offers delightful ways to bring it back.

A Final Note to the Parent Who Feels Like It’s Not Enough

Here’s what’s true: The fact that you care, amid the chaos of dinner and deadlines and dentist appointments, is already enormous. You are already doing so much—more than you think. What your child will remember years from now won’t be whether you helped them rewrite that one science paragraph. It will be that you showed up, imperfectly and lovingly, again and again.

If you feel like your child is falling behind and you're unsure how involved you need to be, this resource walks through what really matters—and what you can let go of.

There is no perfect way to juggle everything. But there is a path forward that includes learning, laughter, and love—even in stolen moments after bedtime stories or while chopping carrots. And sometimes, with the right mix of tech, creativity, and heart, school success can become something you support in ways that fit your real, beautiful, messy life.