Let Children Be Children

            Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when adults recognize the limitations on children. Some people consider children to be miniature adults. This is incorrect as well as an unfair way to treat children. Children should have the opportunity to be children while they are children.

            When I was a young mother with children in elementary school, the teachers not only sent homework home with the children. They also sent art projects. In one school year I – did you catch that – I made a wire bicycle, a Paper Mache muskrat, plus other art projects that were too advanced for the children to do. I dutifully did all that I could do to help my children, but I did not complain to the school. Apparently, some parents did because I received a survey asking about how often my children were bringing art projects home. I was very frank in my reply, and I noticed that there were no more art projects brought home to make.

            I remembered these projects when I read an article today about homework. The article was written by a long time, maybe retired teacher. She admits that she was “old school” and assigned up to two hours of homework for her fifth and sixth grade classes. She thought that her students needed to do homework in order to stay up with students in other classes, states, and countries.

            The author says that she was not entirely wrong in her ideas. However, homework should only be given to middle and high school students – “and not a lot of hours of assignments” – and not to elementary school students, particularly kindergarteners and preschoolers.

            In a doctoral program in education policy, the author learned about some “research that suggests that homework is not good for young kids. Not only does it fail to improve the academic performance of elementary students, but it might actually be damaging to kids’ attitudes toward school, and to their physical health.” There, apparently, is no evidence that “homework improves academic performance of elementary students.”

            The author became a parent while doing graduate work and came to understand that “children’s minds and bodies need other kinds of experiences when they get home, not more academics.”

It’s not just that homework itself has no academic benefits for little kids, and may even be harmful, it’s also that homework is replacing other fun, developmentally appropriate, and valuable activities – activities that help them grow into healthy, happy adults.

            The author then gives a list of 31 things that children could do between the time that they get out of school and bed time. Her list includes jumping rope, talking with parents, sleeping, reading or listening to a book, working on a puzzle, playing on a playground, digging in the dirt, helping with dinner, gardening, practicing a musical instrument, drawing a picture, doing a science experiment, playing dress up, cleaning their room, playing with siblings, writing for the fun of it, zoning out, learning a sewing skill, taking pictures, and riding a bike.

            As you probably noticed, all of the above activities are things that children enjoy doing. We can help our children prepare for adulthood by allowing them to be children while they are children. By doing so, we can strengthen our homes, communities, and nations.