Concerned by the growing pile of homework her daughter was forced to get through every night, one mum has officially made her house a homework-free zone.
Bunmi Laditan, an American author living in Quebec, Canada, wrote a letter to her 10-year-old daughter’s school to inform teachers she would not be completing any more homework.
“I said “drastically reduce” but I was trying to be polite because she’s finished,” Laditan said.
The mum-of-three wrote an impassioned Facebook post explaining her position with the email to the school attached – and judging by the more than 11,000 shares and 5000 comments since it was uploaded Wednesday, it’s a hot button issue among parents.
Listen: And if you can’t ban homework, here’s how to get your kids to do it.
Laditan, who writes parenting books, said her decision was based on the hours her daughter, Maya, was spending working through her homework each night and the stress it was causing her.
The author said her daughter “loves learning” and reads books, researches topics that interest her and writes stories.
“But over the past four years I’ve noticed her getting more and more stressed when it comes to school,” she said.
“And by stressed I mean chest pains, waking up early, and dreading school in general.
“Her dad (who is a very good behavioral therapist) and I have worked hard to reduce her stress, but there’s just too much work.”
Laditan said her daughter's "two to three hours of homework to do every night" on top of her 8:15am-4pm school day left her with little time for anything else before bed.
"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?"
"Children need downtime after school the same way adults need downtime after work."
