"Last year, my first-grade daughter was assigned a diorama for a school project. She and I built a coyote habitat from magazine clippings and cardboard. She cast her artistic direction and took the lead. It turned out nice - cotton clouds strung up on string and paper-pointed mountains - what you'd expect from a first grader. Then we got to school and viewed the others. Parents had clearly poured hours (and money) into creating professional-level displays: jungle trees made of plaster, clear plastic streams,"
"Now, when she brings home a school project, I feel as if I, too, have just received homework. How lucky. My daughter brought home her most recent assignment, which required her to decorate a pumpkin like a favorite character from a book; she read the sheet and waved it in my face. "Mom, this time can we do something better?" I could hear the anxiety in her voice - she wanted her project to measure up."
A parent undertook elementary school projects on behalf of a first-grade daughter, building a coyote diorama with magazine clippings and cardboard. Exposure to classmates' professionally elaborate displays prompted escalation of parental effort. For a pumpkin-decorating assignment, the parent consulted Pinterest, purchased supplies, mixed paint, cut felt, and enlisted an older sibling to construct details. The child expressed anxiety and desire to match others' projects. The parent later felt satisfied but then felt remorse after another parent reminded that children should complete their own work. The parent wished the child had retained ownership and learned autonomy from the assignments.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]