In recent times, a second-grade teacher’s letter went viral, resonating with many parents. “This year, there will be no assigned homework,” she communicated to the families. “Instead, I encourage you to engage in activities that foster student success. Have dinner as a family, read together, play outside, and ensure your child gets to bed early.” Personally, I believe she is onto something significant. What also likely correlates with academic success is having parents who experience less stress. And what would alleviate my stress? The absence of the exhausting nightly battle that is homework.
Let me clarify: I have immense respect for teachers. Seriously, educators, every one of you deserves our gratitude for the hard work you put in daily. I struggle to manage everything during the evening hours. Homework adds yet another layer to the already overwhelming list of tasks I need to oversee in just a few busy weeknight hours. Between 4 PM, when my children arrive home, and 8 PM, when I begin the bedtime routine, I have to sort through backpacks, review and sign papers, prepare dinner, and clean up afterward. Then comes bath time and brushing teeth. I also try to carve out some playtime for my kids. This is all on a night without extracurricular activities; toss in a soccer practice or a karate class, and the time crunch becomes even more apparent. Not to mention, kids tend to move at a snail’s pace.
Now, introduce homework into this evening mix. When I cheerfully announce, “It’s homework time!” my children do not leap into action to grab their math books. Instead, my request is met with whining and slow, sloth-like movements towards their backpacks, as if they are extras in a zombie film. Then comes the inevitable complaint about not finding a pencil, and when they finally do, it’s not sharpened, leading to yet another lengthy search for the pencil sharpener.
But that’s just the prelude. The actual homework process is often even more torturous. Even for the simplest assignments, like “Color this cat yellow,” my kids respond as if they’ve been tasked with writing a doctoral thesis on the behavior of fruit flies. They slump over their papers, producing one word every two minutes amidst groans of “I can’t” and “This is hard,” regardless of the actual difficulty. If they give a half-hearted answer, I insist they redo it, provoking even more vigorous protests.
It would be wonderful if I could simply say, “Complete your homework!” and walk away. Unfortunately, that approach is as effective as asking a meal to cook itself after gathering the ingredients. Homework requires assistance, guidance, and redirection. I should be folding laundry or managing other tasks, yet I find myself hovering over my kids as they complain.
You would think they would realize that finishing their tasks promptly would make life easier for everyone. Grit your teeth, focus, and complete it correctly the first time. Eliminate the whining and procrastination, and they could finish in half—or even a quarter—of the time. But try as I might, I cannot seem to convey this concept. They seem determined to turn it into a drawn-out ordeal.
The situation worsens when they encounter genuinely challenging material. When my sixth-grader presents me with complex equations he needs to solve, I often feel utterly lost. Nothing can make you feel more incompetent than struggling to grasp an upper elementary-level question. We end up sitting in uncomfortable silence, both of us struggling as our patience wears thin.
Unless I can somehow inspire a dramatic shift in their attitude (which is highly unlikely), homework will continue to cast a shadow over our evenings. We do it because it’s necessary, but I can’t blame my children for resisting—because I feel the same way.
Ultimately, homework represents yet another obligation, a task to squeeze into an already packed end-of-day schedule when, let’s face it, we are all a bit worn out.
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Keyphrase: Evening Homework Challenges
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