AIBU to feel totally bemused and think 'you smug twatters'

[hobbgoblin]

of the family who, when given the homework as set out below, came back to school after half term with properly packaged; foil wrapped; paper sleeved; fully printed complete with allergies and ingredients; home bloody made frikkin chocolate bars for the whole class?

This was the homework:

Design a chocolate bar wrapper, draw its net, colour it in and stuff.

They took 'stuff' waaaaaaaaaaaaay too far imho.

Freudian, who knows that the parent's took over in the Op's post? The child could have been very much involved and learned a lot. Why all the criticism without knowing the full details? Just because a project is good, people assume the parent's did it all without any child involvement? It's a bit unfair IMO.
Staying David, I don't think parents should do ALL the child's homework but I think there is plenty of room for child involvement in an expansion project that challenges them a bit further and teaches them more. Even if it ends up being bigger than what they could manage themselves, they have potentially learned a lot more in the process.

they were P1 for christ's sake.

"TBH I was quite happy having my kids jumping round a swimming pool and having fun than doing over blown projects."

I am really pleased for you but having stayed indoors for the best part of the half term because of weather and sickness, making chocolates sounds like a really good and fun way to spend your time with your Dcs I wish I had thought of it.

I'll bet your dc was pleased though

I remember when Barnaby bear went to Disney World among other places...

Scottishmummy - it is not ok for the parents to do all the work if the child is going to gain nothing from the experience - that is what I am saying - I think it does matter if the child isn't getting the experience that the homework was supposed to teach.

Oh the Homebear one, that brings back memories. We got "Homebear" on the day before we left for a holiday abroad. Some parents suggested we deliberatly booked an "exotic" holiday, just do that Ds3's account of his time with homebear would be more interesting than the other children.

NBU.

But what is a 'twatter'?

I am thanking god on my knees that we never had a 'homebear' experience. I don't know what good deed I did in a previous life to have been this lucky.

And the dictionary definition of a twatter is 'A parent who makes chocolate bars and designs fancy wrappers for them.' [hgrin]

I don't have a problem helping my DC with homework - encouraging and offering a hand when it goes wrong. I do draw a line at doing it though. It has to be his idea.

The OP sounds like it could have been done easily by a child, even if it's a little over enthusiastic. Nice idea though. But I do strongly object to parents who do their children's homework (and yes, it really is that bloody obvious).

There is a world of difference between helping and taking over - children will learn, develop and progress when doing the activity together. Yet when over zealous mum takes over (and gets a prize for best looking work) the children actually learn very little - except that their parent is competative and probably will help them with coursework in their later years

If i'd been the parent (in the OP's scenario), I would have made sure the child did the homework set, on their own, then suggested the chocolate-making project as an extra, an aside, if you like.

So, the child would turn up at school with the homework, and then said "I also made some chocolate with my parents and they said I could share it around the class"

sdtg-i am also saying homework wholly or majority undertaken by parents is pointless

but collaboraive work that stimulates isnt

Agreed, scottishmummy - maybe I am being a bit dim this morning, not to have read that in your posts. [hblush]

Agree with the inanity of parents ending up doing the project work for the kids. Not a good practice at all!

This "choc bar story" reminds me of a very annoying practice in my school where a couple of the uber competitive mums regularly bring in home cooked buns/cakes for the kids in my DS and DD's Class , parading though the school yard with their plates of buns in the morning for all to see! It really annoys me...Grrr!

Have told my DS (who then asks why I dont do the same) that I am happy to make buns for him and his DD but not for the other 20 kids in his class!! I have hardly enought time in my day to make sure I'm wearing matching shoes....

I'm always delighted if other people make stuff and bring it in. Saves me doing it.

Bubbley - I did actually say in my first post iirc that we don't actually know how much input the child in the op had. Lots of others have said similar too. It's a general point that people are making, about parents taking over, whether or not it happened in this case.

My class had a bear diary when I taught full-time... the bloody thing had a better social life than I did! Then I had to take it home for a wash, and of course had to write in the bear diary what it did at Miss's house... made a load of lovely stuff up - and one of the local kids grassed me up that he'd been pegged out on the washing line hanging by his ears!

LOL @ emptyshell, nothing gets past them does it

I have a feeling I am going to be one of these parents!

It's begun already. Ds's keyworker at pre-school came up to me in the first week of the new term to tell me how 'wonderful' the "What I did on my holiday" bit of his Home Link book was! I'd We'd done about 6 pages worth with stuck in shells and postcards and photos!

Will attempt to reign myself in before he goes to Primary

It's worse when you do it and the teacher says " it's nice when the children get to do it" this has happened to me with an Easter mobile i did because my daughter had scarlet fever!
( she was in reception)

I have never been good at sticking and imaginative things....

Aha.

Have namechanged to share that our Year 3s had a project to make a Tudor House and one girl's mother sent her in with a Tudor House made entirely of cake, complete with chocolate finger beams, licourice roof etc. I mean really!!!

The parents in the op would have just ordered the chocolate bars from the internet. Do you really think they actually made them from scratch?

As a pp said see here

They were probably too busy to do anything else and just got their child to choose what they wanted on the wrapper.

I'm with Feenie, my attempts at creating things are usually far worse than my children's [embarrassed]

Thanks DaftApeth I thought I had been talking to myself this morning - I know it was early! I get the impression this is the most likely scenario and therefore they have just thrown money at it which I find worse than giving the child the opportunity to do it themselves, even with the whole idea of making the project bigger than it originally was and making chocolate at home I would find that fun to do in the holidays with my DD - especially if we could taste test it all

DaftApeth, what is wrong with making your own chocolate bars? We did some with the Dcs (From a Roald Dhal Magazine about "Charlie and the chocolate factory". It was great fun. Admittingly there was nothing left to bring to school

I didn't say there was anything wrong with making your own cocolate bars but that I think the family in the op probably ordered them from the internet.

Maybe the child in the family also designed his own label as well.

Okay, namechanged for this.

None of my children are old enough for this kind of situation to have come up yet. However, I have a bad feeling that I could end up being seen as one of the "smug show-off" parent at their schools. Inaccurately, I think, as I have absolutely no interest in making other parents or their children feel inadequate.

Thing is, when I read about these projects, all I can think is: that sounds like fun.

I had a sad, deprived childhood, with very little arts and crafts activities. So, I can easily see myself getting drawn into helping construct papier mache castles, complete with working drawbridge, moat, and vents for pouring boiling oil.

Now, obviously, I plan to restrain myself a bit, so that my children get to enjoy themselves and learn things in the process. Otherwise, there'd be no point in the project, would there? And I don't want my children taking over their children's projects because "mother always insisted on taking over, so this is my first chance to do it", either. But I'm probably going to be very easy for my children to inveigle into helping.

What I'm trying to say here, is: if in a few years your younger children are at school with mine, don't assume our masterpiece is designed to make you feel bad.

I really don't think I'm the first parent who might occasionally try to make up for his/her own childhood with his/her children. Those people you currently categorise as smug gits might be cut from similar cloth to me.