Some may argue, but school today is one tough job.
Kids these days start classes earlier than my first alarm even goes off. They attend classes back to back to back for eight hours straight, and then after a full day of exerting some serious brain power, they go home to drain the brain more on who knows how many hours of homework. It’s a full-time job, being a student of any age.
For one mother, enough was enough after her 10-year-old daughter, Maya, became physically ill as a result of the stress that school and homework had become for her.
Bunmi Laditan took to Facebook after emailing Maya’s teacher and letting her know that she is “all done.”
Bunmi Laditan
“My kid is done with homework. I just sent an email to her school letting her know she’s all done. I said “drastically reduce” but I was trying to be polite because she’s finished.”
Bunmi explains that her 10-year-old is a reading machine, and a very savvy independent learner.
“She independently reads 10-12 chapter books a year and regularly researches topics that interest her (right now she’s writing a story about wolves). She takes coding classes, loves painting, and likes something called Roblox that I don’t fully understand.“
She continues:
“But over the past four years I’ve noticed her getting more and more stressed when it comes to school.”
Bunmi Laditan
Bunmi reiterates that the “stress” she’s talking about is chest pains, symptoms of anxiety, waking up early and totally dreading school all together. Sound familiar?
“She’s in school from 8:15am-4pm daily so someone please explain to me why she should have 2-3 hours of homework to do every night? How does homework until 6:30, then dinner, then an hour to relax (or finish the homework) before bed make any sense at all? Is family time not important? Is time spent just being a child relaxing at home not important? Or should she become some kind of junior workaholic at 10 years old?”
The concerned mother of three divulges some staggering statistics, revealing that homework is banned in Finland, and yet they have the highest rate of college-bound students in all of Europe. She cannot stress enough that sitting in a desk all day long, then sitting at the kitchen table all night long is not the making of a successful person. It’s the robbing of childhood and necessary down-time.
“Children need downtime after school the same way adults need downtime after work. They need to play with their siblings. They need to bond with their parents in a relaxed atmosphere, not one where everyone is stressed about fractions because – SURPRISE – I’m not a teacher. Children need time to just enjoy their childhoods or is that just for the weekends (although we do homework on Sundays also).”
Bunmi declares again, “my kid is all done with homework,” before admitting her own concern for the future. “If the school wants to punish her for it, then I guess I’ll have to figure out how to homeschool.”
Bunmi Laditan
Although she works from home, balancing her work while taking on a second job of being her daughter’s teacher—among the countless duties of motherhood—would be nearly impossible.
“I’ll have to hire a tutor to help me and will need to find a group of parents doing the same thing, but I have no choice at this point.”
Like most mamas, she’s committed to doing anything necessary to help her child.
Bunmi closes her post by ensuring that she believes education is important, but academics should not consume a child’s life.
“We all want our children to grow up and succeed in the world…I don’t care if she goes to Harvard one day. I just want her to be intelligent, well-rounded, kind, inspired, charitable, spiritual and have balance in her life. I want her to be mentally and emotionally healthy. I want her to know that work is not life, it’s part of life. Work will not fulfill you. It will not keep you warm – family, friends, community, giving back, and being a good person do that.”
From now on, the Laditan’s are a homework-free household, because “my kid needs to be a kid.”
Bunmi Laditan
Bunmi wants others to know that she in no way is blaming her child’s teacher, and she values the work of all educators. It’s simply the system and expectations that are threatening her daughter’s stability.
The post has been shared over 21,000 times. Teachers and parents alike have responded with praise, agreement and full support of Bunmi’s decision to take action. Because sometimes, we have to speak up for those who can’t—especially when it comes to our children.
