Tantrums homework

For a number of days in a row, when homework time approached in the evening, my son met it with resistance and frustration. I would see a range of reactions, from announcing that it was boring and he wasn’t going to do it, to kicking and yelling and crying over his homework.

It was clear I was going to need to help my child with school. At the start of the year, my son’s second grade teacher gave all the parents special instructions for doing homework this year: set a timer for 30 minutes for homework time, and when that timer goes off, put the pencil down and walk away.

If any tears or yelling happens before the timer goes off, put the pencil down and walk away. It was as though he was perfectly foreshadowing what we were about to see. For a number of days in a row, when homework time approached in the evening, my son met it with resistance and frustration.

Violette: He crumpled it up, and then it turned - he said that was really class work [William snatches and crumples the worksheet] but it turns out I found the real homework assignment [holds up the assignment] and he won't do it. He's crumpling it up right now and this is a copy I'm sending - I'm sending this to the school principal.