How does a working mum survive Kindergarten?

I only have a minute, as I am off to drop off my 9 year old son's DS for after school. Then finish the preparations on my 2 year old son's weekend party. And, print my 15 year old daughter's concert ticket for tomorrow and take it to her at the venue where she will be sleeping on the sidewalk. I am also a lawyer, and a hard working mom. Point being, I have been doing this for 15 years and I have found viable solution. And that is, I am the boss and I am in charge of my childrens lives, schedules, homework, etc. I don't mean this in a dictatorship, or to sound like only my rules apply. What I mean is, that I know what is best for my children and I make the decisions of when and how much homework they need to do and I do it according to my schedule and convenience. The teachers job ends when my children come home from school. That doesn't mean that I don't have respect for what is asked of my children. It simply means that only I as the mother of this family can decide on what is best for my children. Of course, I can say this because my children all score high on their test. That's the key, if your children go to school on a regular basis and you communicate your choices with the teacher, a teacher can not argue with productive kids in the classroom. I send a few notes and emails to explain when things are being done my way and not necessarily the teachers way. Make your own rules and don't fill guilty about it. No regrets for knowing what is best.

Hi,

I have been a working Mum of a child in Kindergarten and a Stay at Home Mum of a child in Kindergarten, and the homework is not easy on either.

While I was working, my daughter did her homework in the time it took me to cook dinner. I would set her up at the dinner table and would monitor her progress while I peeled the veges or browned the meat etc. If we grabbed take away that night, she would do her homework in the bathroom while I bathed her brothers. I gave her time every night, just most of the time it was not conventional.

Now I am at home and I have three children doing homework. One in year 4, one in year 2 and one in Kindergarten. It is harder now than it was when I just had the one, but homework is still done while I am preparing dinner. The children all sit at the dinner table and do their work. Sometimes they help each other, sometimes I help them.

I believe that children are often given too much homework and I sometimes think it is the parents being graded not the children, especially when you see some of the assignments that are brought into the classroom. You can always tell which assignment was done by the student and which was done by the parents. At the beginning of every year, I tell the classroom teacher that I will not be doing my childrens assignments for them, and that anything handed in will be entirely their own work.

I have on more than one occaison asked for assignments to be remarked when I find out that the assignment that scored the highest mark was one completed by a 30 something year old mother!

You can only do what you can do, but your problem is not only one experienced by working mothers, it is a problem shared by stay at home mothers (who refuse to do their childrens homework) too.