Not everyone would view homework in the same light as I do. However I feel it is a way to help your children as well as getting to know them better. Sometimes it helps to spend that extra time building a close bond with your children so that when a serious problem arises, they will more readily come to you. Put your busy life on the back burner for a bit and let them know you care, as well that you were once a child too.

It can help them relate to you better as well when they know you had been in their shoes before. The tough homework assignments were things you had to hurdle and that you expect them to hurdle too. When they get them done and well and on time it will be demonstrated in their high marks.

Perhaps one of my favorite classes had been art class, it had been something I usually found fairly easy and enjoyable. My creativity could run rampant and there were no limits to the boundless inspiration I found among other classmates doing the same assignments.

I began reminiscing after my daughter brought home a sheet of paper with half of a magazine ad where a beautiful teenager was displaying a crystal necklace glued to it. The assignment was to draw the other half of the image as best as you could.

Perhaps you might remember the collage, I know my son does now. He was having trouble deciding on images to use. I helped him by cutting out a number of images in the magazine and let him decide which ones he wanted to use. He ended up selecting the pair of princess cut engagement rings, a bedding collection and a beautiful damask sofa from among things I cut out for him. He kept placing the things where he liked them and glued them in place.

He was finished and started cleaning up, but my daughter was still having trouble. I suggested that she try something a little simpler for her. She selected a green and gold set of hobo handbags. We cut the advertisement in half and glued it down on the paper. She tried her hand at it and I thought she did remarkably well on it.

After she was done, she smiled at me and told me that it is much easier to draw purses instead of people. I had to agree with her, but I think it helped her. She tackled her assignment then and ended up with fairly high marks on it. I was certainly very proud of the job she did on it.