Family Talk: Taking Responsibility

With my daughter in kindergarten and , one would think that my husband and I would be experts in handling homework and school projects by now. Think again.

As my son gets older and his workload increases, not only in size, but in complexity as well, I find it, at times, to be more of a struggle to stay on top of him and his assignments.

When he was younger, and similar to what my daughter does now, he would get in the house and run to take out his folder to show me all that he had gotten back and to start on the tasks he had for that afternoon. Nowadays we run through a , ranging from forgetting necessary textbooks in school to not wanting to accept the fact that the day before an exam does not constitute studying.

My husband and I always work to make sure that staying on top of school assignments is a joint effort. I have to admit that I wonder if all that we do to make sure my son, and daughter (although it's easier at a younger age - it seems), excel in school is making it easier for him to be a little irresponsible.

For instance, if my son forgets his book, as he did last night, I phone my neighbor to borrow it from his classmate, as I did last night. Also, if he has procrastinated on completing a project, I stay by his side to reassure him that he'll get done in time.

And while my husband and I outline punishments for not completing assignments in a timely manner, and for not performing well in school overall, I think that I am starting to realize something my son knows all too well: most of the time we don't enforce those punishments.

The play dates still go on, and the extracurricular activities (sports and music for my son) are still attended.

So, how do we, as parents, make sure that we are instilling that sense of responsibility surrounding homework, projects and just overall assignments in our kids? Do we need to let them go to school without their homework one time, so that they understand that there are consequences to not remembering to bring home their books? To we try harder to stick to enforce those punishments when undesirable behavior surrounding homework and projects has emerged? Or is it just a phase that they grow out of as they get older?