Is this common now? Preschooler projects done by the parents?

[Anonymous]

My Preschooler was given her first (and only) “homework” assignment: a project to create a “home” out of a box. Teacher sent a nice note home to all parents saying it can look however kids want, and they were given a week to do it at home and present it in class. My kid painted a box and added misc things to it and we even practiced hot glue gun usage, so it was fun and an appropriate challenge in that respect. The outcome was a classically messy project but a kid enthusiastic to share about it. So whatever, fine by me. However, I was really surprised to find out that my kid was one of the only ones who had clearly done this project mostly herself. All the other projects were very obviously meticulously done by the parents. This is out of all the prek classes! I think maybe two other kids had done the project themselves.

So the point of this post: Is this fairly common now? My daughter is my eldest and she is in a private school. This is my first school experience so I’m just wondering if I’m doing her some crazy disservice by letting her do this kind of project herself (with me there basically just for safety purposes)?

[Anonymous]

I needed 2 hands to count how many times I rolled my eyes reading this.

[Anonymous]

My mom did my entire science project in kindergarten and I’m 30, so I think this has been going on for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Our school vacillates between “your kid should do this” and “you should help your kid, this is a project for both of you” so it’s hard to keep track sometimes.

[Anonymous]

I would assume that any HW given to preschoolers is a family project. I think you've done a crazy disservice by sending your kid to a school that has HW in preschool, but that either doing it themselves or doing it together is fine. I'd do what my kid wanted to do.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the parents and kids. My kids do their own projects, and have been doing for a long time. I offer to help, so if needed print thing out or sometimes they put me to cutting out (and then the cut outs are nice and even) while the kids glue & staple etc. There is no right or wrong, so what feels right for your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would assume that any HW given to preschoolers is a family project. I think you've done a crazy disservice by sending your kid to a school that has HW in preschool, but that either doing it themselves or doing it together is fine. I'd do what my kid wanted to do.

+1

There are many preschoolers without the executive function to complete a project at all. Of course the parents helped.

[Anonymous]

Did you go in the classroom and inspect each one? If you did and you factually think this happened then you are probably right. Parents have been helping their kids for decades, it’s not new. Keep doing what you’re doing. I make my kid do her own work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom did my entire science project in kindergarten and I’m 30, so I think this has been going on for a long time.

Agreed that this is NOT a new thing. Let your kid do her own projects, help when she asks for it and don't help when she doesn't need help. (A) It really doesn't matter in preschool and (B) Teachers know.

[Anonymous]

I believe that parents need to help kids in early years so that children learn how to do these projects.

I remember teaching my kid how to make powerpoint slides in 4th grade for a project.

[Anonymous]

Now?

[Anonymous]

I remember helping my kindergardner with her "100 days of school" project. She had to stick 100 things on a board to show that 100 days of school had passed. I saw this as a huge learning opportunity to teach her how to do such projects. She and I, identified 10 geometric shapes and cut them out on different colored paper. Then we found 10 different types of beans, labelled their names, and stuck them on the geometric shapes in groups of 10. We clustered each group as an addition fact (1 + 9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5, 1+2+7, 2+2+6 etc) and then finally stuck the shapes on a grid on a poster board. If my kid would have been overwhelmed then of course we would have done something simpler, but I wanted to see how much she could comprehend and if she had good pattern recognition skills. She certainly surpassed my expectations. She is doing well in her field now.

My philosophy is that every kid has the same 24 hours in the day and by and large the same resources at home (food, shelter, warmth, access to education). If the parents want to enrich or accelerate the education at home and the kid has the executive function skills to handle it, why not?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Love the Simpson’s clip, hah! I suppose it’s mostly the fact that it’s preschool that surprised me. Seems like a low-stakes good opportunity for learning to do these things on their own since there is obviously nothing on the line for grades. But I can appreciate that other commenters are sharing the opposite perspective here: that it is a teaching opportunity for when these projects DO become more important in the future. The variety of responses is interesting here!

[Anonymous]

You are not doing anything wrong!!!! Please let your kid do their own projects. Sometimes the majority are actually the weirdos. If she wants help, fine, give her a little bit, but don't do it for her.

I once saw a nanny doing a kid's art project in a community center class. I am amused at the parents treasuring this craft made by the nanny. lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom did my entire science project in kindergarten and I’m 30, so I think this has been going on for a long time.

I had undiagnosed severe learning disabilities and recall both my parents doing my book reports and mobiles in 2nd grade, and my dad writing my college biology papers that I needed to submit to get a passing grade. I just had to re-write in my own handwriting.

Meanwhile when my DD (thank god, did not inherit my brain!) was 7th, she got a humanities project that she was really excited about. She spent a lot of time on it, and she proudly marched into school holding it, and her body language totally shrank as she saw that other kids had much more polished projects. I am so glad I was there to see that because I pushed her forward and whispered "Their parents did theirs - I'll go make sure your teacher knows I wasn't involved." I distinctly remember running after her teacher on a staircase and saying "I just want you to know, DD put a lot of time and effort into the project she's submitting today, and did all the work herself. I just provided snacks. She's seen some other kids' projects and ...." and the teacher cut me off, smiled and said "I can always tell, don't worry." DD got an A.

OP, your kid is in preschool. Teach her to own her work.