Parenting

Is homework getting you down?

You dread it as soon as you see your child take his backpack to the kitchen table or maybe even get in the car.

You anticipate the fights, the struggle and sometimes the necessary bribing and manipulation to get the homework done.

Just the other night, your child cried at the kitchen table for 20 minutes because he didn’t want to even try a hard math problem.

You had no idea how to help him. Maybe you tried Youtube, you tried googling, but nothing.

Or perhaps your daughter sat there with the assignment of writing a 5 paragraph essay but refused to actually write something.

She sat.

She stared.

It was painful.

Do your kids whine?

Does the whining make your head hurt? Do you want to dig a tunnel through your kitchen floor and burrow inside until the whining stops?

Me too.

Why do we feel so guilty when our kids say they’re bored?

I’m typing on my computer when my son wanders into the office.

“Mom, I’m bored.”

Immediately, I clench up. My gosh, I shouldn’t be working this much. Why don’t I have something for him to do?