This woman wants our sympathy.....
.....but there is no way she's going to get mine!
I have absolutely no sympathy for this helicopter mom. Why in the heck is she enabling her child? You *KNOW* the teacher told the students well in advance what they would need for these projects. The child just failed to communicate with the parent.
No more running out to the store in the middle of the night to rescue the kid. Now it's time for the parent to BACK OFF and let the kid face the consequences of his irresponsibility.
She needs to establish a routine so that it's harder for the child to fail to communicate with her. If there is a homework log, check it every day when the child first walks in the door. Have a set time every night for homework. Normally, homework should take 10 mins per year of school each night. (So for a 2nd grader, 20 mins each night.)
I make sure Keithen understands the work and has the materials. Then I set a timer for about twice that time. Then, when time is up, I find out if there were any parts he didn't understand and TAKE IT AWAY if it's simply not done. If he gets up early the next morning, then he can try again before the bus comes.
Teachers are often parents too.....they know that your kids have a life outside school. They WANT your kids to have a life outside school. They DO NOT want homework to take up all your family time. This is why our teacher, dean and principal *ALL* advocate taking the work away after a reasonable amount of time has passed. If your child's homework takes too long, there is a PROBLEM and you need to set a meeting with the teacher.
She writes, "We do our children's homework." You do WHAT?! Stop that right now women! No sympathy at all for you here! How is the kid going to learn anything at all if he knows mom is gonna bail him out all the time? The teacher doesn't want to know if MOM AND DAD know the times tables or all the state capitals. She wants the CHILD to do the work. Lady, you need to take yourself OUT of the equation unless the child has questions!
And what about, "Who, may I ask, is going to drive to the fabric store and run the sewing machine? Who will buy the stuffing, find buttons for the eyes, and sew on the cute whiskers?" Leave the sewing machine out of it if the kid can't use it yet. Hand him a needle and thread or a hole punch and a skein of yarn. Give him some craft glue or double stick tape. THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE SOME PERFECT CRAFT SHOW CREATION.....it's supposed to be YOUR CHILD'S best work, not YOURS. You already passed 4th grade.
She says, "Certainly not the 9-year-old boy who is busy playing a Star Wars game on the computer." So.....mom.....what is he doing on the computer if his homework isn't done? PULL THE PLUG! Sit him down to do his work. Do you not have any control over your child?
Sigh.....no.....I have no sympathy for the mom at all. Maybe a *tiny* bit of sympathy for the child who probably isn't going to be able to function on his own when he goes to college.
I have absolutely no sympathy for this helicopter mom. Why in the heck is she enabling her child? You *KNOW* the teacher told the students well in advance what they would need for these projects. The child just failed to communicate with the parent.
No more running out to the store in the middle of the night to rescue the kid. Now it's time for the parent to BACK OFF and let the kid face the consequences of his irresponsibility.
She needs to establish a routine so that it's harder for the child to fail to communicate with her. If there is a homework log, check it every day when the child first walks in the door. Have a set time every night for homework. Normally, homework should take 10 mins per year of school each night. (So for a 2nd grader, 20 mins each night.)
I make sure Keithen understands the work and has the materials. Then I set a timer for about twice that time. Then, when time is up, I find out if there were any parts he didn't understand and TAKE IT AWAY if it's simply not done. If he gets up early the next morning, then he can try again before the bus comes.
Teachers are often parents too.....they know that your kids have a life outside school. They WANT your kids to have a life outside school. They DO NOT want homework to take up all your family time. This is why our teacher, dean and principal *ALL* advocate taking the work away after a reasonable amount of time has passed. If your child's homework takes too long, there is a PROBLEM and you need to set a meeting with the teacher.
She writes, "We do our children's homework." You do WHAT?! Stop that right now women! No sympathy at all for you here! How is the kid going to learn anything at all if he knows mom is gonna bail him out all the time? The teacher doesn't want to know if MOM AND DAD know the times tables or all the state capitals. She wants the CHILD to do the work. Lady, you need to take yourself OUT of the equation unless the child has questions!
And what about, "Who, may I ask, is going to drive to the fabric store and run the sewing machine? Who will buy the stuffing, find buttons for the eyes, and sew on the cute whiskers?" Leave the sewing machine out of it if the kid can't use it yet. Hand him a needle and thread or a hole punch and a skein of yarn. Give him some craft glue or double stick tape. THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE SOME PERFECT CRAFT SHOW CREATION.....it's supposed to be YOUR CHILD'S best work, not YOURS. You already passed 4th grade.
She says, "Certainly not the 9-year-old boy who is busy playing a Star Wars game on the computer." So.....mom.....what is he doing on the computer if his homework isn't done? PULL THE PLUG! Sit him down to do his work. Do you not have any control over your child?
Sigh.....no.....I have no sympathy for the mom at all. Maybe a *tiny* bit of sympathy for the child who probably isn't going to be able to function on his own when he goes to college.
Labels: homework
posted by Carissa @ 9:30 AM
2 Comments:
At 3:03 PM, November 22, 2006 ,
Jason said...
Here, here!
At 9:09 PM, November 25, 2006 ,
Granny said...
Yep, although I've had many occasions where the teacher her/himself has waited until the last possible minute to ask for things. Oops.
Homework? I set a time limit and the school has guidelines as well. As long as I know they haven't wasted time, I check the questions they didn't understand. They rush through many of the lessons in class. Some kids can get it the first time, some can't. I do sit with them on math with the questions they can't seem to wrap their heads around. If I can reinforce the teaching, I'll do it but they have to do the actual work.
I live in an economically depressed, small city. It's probably quite different elsewhere.It's a day to day process with us. I try not to enable but I don't want them to sink without a trace either. The teachers do the best they can but the classes are overcrowded, often noisy, and there is too much material to cover in too short a time. Our public middle school is better than some but the teacher still spends far too much time enforcing discipline and too little time teaching.
It's the "average" kids like mine who are trying to learn that suffer. And probably the "gifted" kids as well. The troublemakers go merrily on because they don't care.
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