Not the Parents Business

While at our local library I picked up a local magazine from a nearby prominent city.  It was the “back to school” edition, so I brought a copy home to see what kinds of tips and wisdom it offered.  Obviously it was geared towards families in which the kids go off to school each day, but still I wanted to check out all the extracurricular advertisements.

One of the articles was “Homework: A Survival Guide”.  I found this to be an interesting  article, in an odd sort of way.  What I thought was odd was the information under the subheading of “What About the Child Who Forgets or Refuses to do Homework?”  The author states that homework is between the teacher and the student, but not the parents business.   The article then goes on to say that the parent should find out through communication with the teacher if the child is doing poorly (ok, or maybe TALK TO YOUR KIDS?)  The author then makes the absurd conclusion that the child is then to make the decision as to whether they will repeat the year or begin doing their work.

Really?  Do you really think a 3rd grade child should have the final decision on such a thing?  No, not a bit. A child will usually pick what feels good, and not doing their school work is going to feel a lot better than hitting the books.

Personally, I think the attitude of it not being “the parent’s business” is the mentality that permeates most of the parenting world these days.   It is a parents business if their child isn’t doing their work.  It is a parents business if the child is failing.  Just like it is the parents business if their 13 year old is given “the morning after pill” at school.   I’ll save that topic for a different post.

The author blamed the lack of completed homework on the fact that it’s not entertaining and engaging enough.  We’re raising a world full of people who are being entertained to death.   There are wonderful public and private school teachers out there.  They are teachers, not entertainers, or babysitters.

Where have all the parents gone?