Children and Their Homework

Homework stands at the head of the problems facing pupils and parents. It is a strange thing to find no small number of homes in which the children are forced to do their school assignments amid the conversations of grown-ups and the sounds coming from radio sets; and it is regrettable that the parents take a selfish stand toward this state of affairs, saying: no harm will come to them — let them simply not listen to the radio — heedless of the fact that the children will not be able to apply themselves to their assignments where there is noise, and that no great benefit can be hoped for from their studying.

Let the mother ask herself: does her husband allow his children to play and make a racket whenever he himself wants to read or write? And can she herself turn to an important task in disturbing surroundings? The answer to both questions is negative. And if this is so for the parents, it naturally applies to the children as well: it is impossible for them to concentrate their minds or take an interest in any subject if they must do their school assignments in surroundings filled with noise. That is one side of it; on the other side, studying in such an atmosphere is exhausting to the nerves.

The cause of these difficulties which children suffer goes back to the fact that some mothers consider the school assignments their children do at home superfluous and unnecessary, their argument being that the child receives the necessary information at school, and that consequently it is not an essential factor in the child's profit that he should have a comfortable atmosphere at home. This argument rests on a flimsy foundation, for the school is no more than a place of guidance or explanation, and the child truly takes in his lessons and profits from his intelligence and mind only when he works alone. It is therefore of great importance that the child complete his school assignments inside the house surrounded by the best of conditions. Naturally the wife does not expect her husband to refrain from listening to the news on the radio and to keep silent for several hours because the children are bent over their homework. Indeed, the house is the father's house first and foremost, and the children are in it only for some twenty years or thereabouts.

This being the case, there is no way to solve the problem except to have the children do their assignments in a place apart — let it be the dining room or the bedroom, if the house is small and it is impossible to set aside a special room for them. In that case, however, complete silence must be observed while the children are bent over their studies, and the means of comfort provided for them, among them a suitable electric lamp, and a stove in cold weather. In a word, the parents should strive as far as possible to provide their children with what they need at study time, so that they do not feel isolated — a thing that makes them find their assignments harder.

The mother should take a stand of serious, active concern toward her children's school assignments. Thus she should allow her children to turn to her when in difficulty, or show complete readiness to help them, especially since children like to have someone near them whom they can consult about the assignments they are doing,

and who will listen to what they have memorized by heart and ask them questions about their lessons. But if the mother is unable to help her children because she does not know the correct answer to a question, for example, she should tell them so; then, if they manage to answer it, they will no doubt feel clever. It is worth mentioning here that the mother may sometimes read in one of her children's books, and thus raise the book's value in their eyes. This stand taken by the mother not only makes her children's assignments easier, but also establishes a true intimacy between her and them.