“I just let go”: parents say no to primary homework

Tanned to fight every night, parents decided to no longer force their child to look into long duties when he is unable to sit after a whole day on the school benches.

“The teachers tell us:” It’s just a little 30 minutes “. For example, But no, it takes an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes, “sighs Karine Miron.

This mother of Saint-Eustache, in the Laurentians, has three school-aged children, including two 10-year-old twins who have a attention disorder.

Not being in the same group. Moreover, they are well placed to observe the great disparity in the quantity of duties given from one year and from one teacher to another.

“I tried to establish a routine, but it doesn’t work. In addition, At one point, I just let go, ”says Mr.^me Miron.

Feeling of incompetence

Very often, “i just let go”: parents he has experienced a feeling of incompetence. Moreover, Certain calculation methods and certain terms in French have changed since its time.

“Sometimes they give them homework and children don’t even know [quoi faire]She notes. Nevertheless,

“We have sometimes mega complicated duties,” complains Félix Catudal Miron.

From now on, she no longer insists. In addition, And the notes of its twins, which are around 85%, did not fall.

Karine Miron, with her sons, Antoine (left) and Félix (right), who will soon start their 5th year. Pierre-Paul Poulin / Le Journal de Montréal

When the representative of Journal Their request if they would prefer that duties be done in class. that the only task to do at home is reading, as exists elsewhere in Quebec, the eyes of Antoine Catudal Miron are rounding up.

“Yes, yes, yes,” he exclaims.

Make “serious”

In some circles, we can find parents who hold homework. “There are some who are convinced that a serious teacher gives it. ” illustrates Roch Chouinard, professor of psychopedagogy at the University of Montreal.

Several parents questioned also mentioned that the relationship with duties. their benefits seemed to vary from one child to another.

The fact remains that several now take their distance from this pressure. Some will even inform teachers that few or no homework would be done at home.

This is the case of Geneviève Morand, a “i just let go”: parents mother from Montreal.

“It is sure that I look a little special,” she admits laughing.

At first. she tried many approaches to make her son sit down and bring him to concentrate: obligation, negotiation, shift the homework period. In vain.

“In the name of what?”

His boy, now 10 years old, is like a “full battery” needing to discharge when he returns from school.

“In addition, I have one hand in homework, one hand in supper, another in cleaning. I lack hands! “

Not to mention the sometimes unequal distribution in the event of a shared guard. which means that the weight of duties and all the conflicts that come with a parent more than the other, she says.

“I said to myself: that’s enough!” In the name of what am I fighting like this? From the moment I put this limit, I felt really relieved. ”

His position was “i just let go”: parents all the more strengthened by discussing with other parents. inquiring about the debates surrounding the usefulness of duties in primary school.

This is also part of a reflection on the performance society. in which children bathe in spite of themselves, adds the one who co -wrote and directed several tests.

“Maybe I don’t need my child to run after 100% all the time,” she said.

Moreover. released the pressure of homework has had benefits on your child, as also evidenced by other parents (to read on Sunday).