School Project

B came home last week with a "family" assignment. As a "family" we were suppose to use materials found around the house to make a turkey. Now I absolutely HATE doing these projects. My son has never liked doing them either. So I was dreading this project. I hate craft projects and try to keep that kind of stuff to a minimum. Not sure why, I think it's the mess that it makes and the magical clean up fairies never show up.

After a week of avoiding the project, I decided that what I needed was a plan. B wasn't super keen on using one of our small pumpkins, or a potato. Things that were suggested in the note sent home. So a quick search on my favorite tool... the internet... we found a couple of projects that we could really get behind.

B settled on a turkey napkin holder. Basically, a strip of construction paper with a head, wings and feet cut out. We folded another piece of paper accordion style for the tail feathers. He added a beak, some googly eyes and some poms. He's very proud of his turkey and thinks it's cute. His words. lol

So I'm pretty proud of myself and of B since he took an interest and did most of the project himself with only little help from me. Well, we had his parent teacher conference last night. BTW, he got rave reviews from the teacher. As we are sitting there listening to all of his 1st grade accomplishments, I notice that some kids have already turned in their turkeys. It's OBVIOUS that the parents of some of the kids DID the project themselves with little help from their child. It's FIRST grade not some commissioned piece of art that will be hanging in some gallery in New York and needs to be super elaborate.

Why do parents feel they need to get so super involved in a craft project? They don't get the grade anymore. They already had their turn in the sun. Let you child take the lead and do the bulk of the project. I know it said FAMILY on it, but I believe that your child was suppose to take the lead and do the bulk of the work with little guidance from mom and dad. I'm all for helping B with his homework, but as a parent I also need to take a step back and let him pass or fail on HIS efforts. If he has to suffer the consequences of a frown face then so be it. Maybe he'll work harder next time for that smiley face and learn to put his best efforts into his work.

Since he's only in 1st grade, I'm thinking I've got a long hard road of projects ahead...