To not want to be making a fucking junk robot for ds to take to school?

[lecce]

I hate, hate, hate craft. Since having ds2, who loves it, I have learnt that it's fine if I just let him get on with it. So he'll often spend the best part of an hour messing about with paint, boxes, glitter, glue etc. Usually the end result, is, well, unrecognisable (polite way of putting it), but ds is always happy and I understand that the process is what counts, and his explanations and pride in the end result tell me that it has been worthwhile.

However, making specific items from a book or Mr arsing Maker tend to end in tears. They never look right; whichever glue we use fails to stick anything; there is some crucial item we can't get and the end result looks nothing like the pictures. So, we avoid this kind of thing.

Now ds2, in reception, has been told he has to make a robot at home to discuss at show and tell. I am very conscious that others will bring in robots that look as if they have been made professionally. We have got started this morning, and, so far we have discovered that the paint we have seems to just move around the box, rather than providing a thick covering, so that it is very hard to cover the writing on the box. This means I have had to do most of the painting as ds couldn't get the hang of dabbing it on and not brushing. Also, the items from recycling we are using are thick and require cutting with big 'grown-up' scissors - so, no, ds can't do this either. The result is I have spent the morning saying, "No, not like that," "Don't touch that now," "No, you can't do this bit," "let me do this," "No, not like that!" I have tried to keep the hysteria and irritation out of my voice, and he seems happy enough, but this is not how I want to spend the limited time I have with him (I work f/t)

So, I have done most of the work - yet it will still look crap compared to many others, I am sure - so what is ds going to say at show and tell? "Mummy did X", "Mummy snapped at me...?" He is shy and is yet to speak to his teacher , so I don't really see that forcing him to talk about how he did something he didn't really do is the way to get his confidence up.

AIBU to not want to have to do this sort of thing unless we choose to?

[Threalamandaclarke]

crispy I agree. Sorry about your DC's experience.

[hettienne]

The teacher's thinking behind the homework will have been lots of the children are interested in robots = junk modelling gives them the opportunity to do some expressive art/design = talking about what they made will encourage them to be confident in public speaking.

Parents making the robot and telling the child not to touch as they're doing it wrong isn't going to meet any of the teacher's objectives. "Excellence in junk modelling 30-40 year olds" is not on the EYFS.

[Sparklingbrook]

We had to do this last year but DS2 was in Year 6. it now takes pride of place in the loft.

[wtf1981]

Half an hour max, guide him but let it be his work.

[lecce]

Crispy That is awful - and the kind of thing I dread happening to my dc. I hope your dd, with your help, will regain her pride in her creation and not be put off in the future.

Look, to those who are accusing me of being competitive and 'swelling the ranks of parents doing it for their kids and spoiling it for others - I'm really not. Anything I make will look like something a four year old who is reasonably good at crafts would make anyway. I accept that I am probably projecting my fears onto ds, or something . I had several experiences as a child where my mother would say, "bollocks to that!" to something the school had asked for, and I would be the one who didn't quite have the right stuff, etc. I really don't want that for mine. Trust me when I say that any robot I make would not make a four-year old feel inadequate - really .

I am also worried about ds's lack of confidence at school and don't want this to add to it. I get that show and tell is supposed to develop this, but wouldn't it be better if they had a choice about what they took in - instead of me having to spend my time with ds in a certain way? Even if I gave no help whatsoever, there is still a time commitment needed - and we are time-poor!

hettienne I have seen plenty of creations apparantly made by children the same age as mine, and they are always in a different class . Either they get loads of help, or my children are incredibly inept . There was no need for you to pull the face at me - I am basing my comments on what I have seen of 'child-produced' craft before - in school and in the homes of other parents. They all seem to be able to make something - mine can't. I would love to meet some of these other children who chuck some boxes vaguely at each other and smear some paint on - it would make me feel at lot better. .

[Sparklingbrook]

I helped DS2 because I wanted the bloody thing done and off my dining table. I painted the boxes while he was at school so they would be dry when he got home and he could carry on.

[hettienne]

The teacher will know what 4 year olds are actually capable of though as she will see the drawing and modelling they do in class.

[Buzzardbird]

Yanbu and imo Mr fecking I have a whole production team to help maker should be made to come to your house and make it for you...git!

[talkingnonsense]

I came to give fluffys tip- it's a fab one ( turn the box inside out for anyone that missed it!)

[Fuzzysnout]

The teacher will be more happy with his own work. He is 4, it doesn't matter if it looks rubbish, it will be his own creation. The only way is to let him enjoy doing it & help as & when. Homework at this age should never ruin family time or become a trial which sets them up for thinking school work equals dullness & misery. Just let him do it however he wants & praise his good efforts. Have fun & ignore everyone else, it's not important.

[SarahAndFuck]

We made boats this week. That was the brief, have your child make a boat from recyclable materials and get them to talk about the items they are using as they make it.

At the risk of outing myself, while you could tell that most of the children (all age 4) had done most of the work themselves, one parent had made the Titanic.

The actual Titanic. Perfectly. Not a brush stroke or a felt tip pen mark out of place. Rows of perfectly straight windows in perfectly straight lines, some sort of calligraphy to write the name, every detail covered.

Their child had clearly not been anywhere near it.

Most of the others seemed to consist of badly chopped up cereal boxes and the children's own body weights in tape and stickers.

I think the point was to get them using scissors and to practice sticking things together or using pens and brushes. For co-ordination and fine motor skills.

But I agree with Sovery about the reading books and with anyone who has mentioned the time it takes for after school homework.

DS is four. He has to practice in his writing book every night, has a reading book to read each night and a weekly library book and each week brings home some bigger piece of homework, such as this boat. I think it's a lot for such young children, and we don't even have the weekend to work on things like this, they get them on Monday night to bring back for Friday morning.

He doesn't finish school until 3:30pm and he's still at the stage of being knackered from it. We get home by 4pm and he goes to bed at 7pm because he's worn out. It's not a lot of time for him to be at home, to eat, to play, to relax and to get ready for bed.

[secretscwirrels]

Reception is only the start. There will be years of this. Many more robots and worse.
I was exactly like you at first. My art and craft skills would shame most 3 year olds, but I tried to help my DCs who were equally rubbish at craft.
Eventually the DCs chose to do only those which were compulsory and avoided all voluntary projects / competitions. We made it a family in joke that they always came last in art.

Teachers of course know which mothers are competing

[thegreylady]

get your ds to tear up some old magazine pictures with lots of green in them.make a flour/water paste and paint that over the 'body' then stick the bits on-lovely :)

[Mintyy]

I just think that is an absolutely shocking amount of homework for a 4 year old Sarah . And so totally unnecessary! Is it a state school? I'm genuinely rather horrified.

[Akray]

mintyy couldn't agree more! They can make what they like at school but I object to this being homework.

3 of my DC are at primary school and so far this term we have had to make a cave, a castle, a Roman ruin and an insect, all out of recycled material. Fortunately I am now wise to this ~ DC1 made cave in primary 1 and I kept it ~ DC2 and 3 have 'recycled' the same cave just as teachers 'recycle' the same projects every year and so it goes for the castle etc!

[grumpalumpgrumped]

My rule as an early years worker, and one I tell all my staff.....never touch a childs picture or model unless asked to do so by the child.

[TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos]

Crispy how horrid.

Fluffy great tip!

I provide the bits and pieces DC1 (7) needs and supervise (i.e. try and minimise glue everywhere) but she makes. Same for a project she had to do at Easter: I helped get the info together but she selected what she wanted, designed the booklet, etc. etc. She does have pretty fixed ideas, though.

[pianodoodle]

This all sounds a bit bollocky and worrying!

DD is only 2 but I never anticipated doing homework myself.

I thought homework was something they'd just get on with while I made dinner!

[SarahAndFuck]

It is a state school. And not only do we get the daily homework, we also are expected to go into school for fifteen minutes each day when we arrive in the morning, to help the children practice reading or writing. If they spot you trying to escape without completing your fifteen minutes they chase you down and bring you back.

DH is in the Navy. The next time we are asked to make a boat I'm going to have him build an aircraft carrier from lollipop sticks and claim it was all DS's own work.

[Ghostsgowoooh]

Sarahandfuck im opened mouthed at that! What happens if you have work or younger siblings to attend too?

I remember when I was in my last year of primary and my teacher set a class homework project which was build a model of your house and there was a prize for the best. My dad who was very good craft wise completely took over against mt wishes and built a perfect scale model of our house out of thick white card. It had scale rooms and everything. All I was allowed to so was colour the damn thing in. Needless to say I was disqualified and I had the eternal shame of my dad storming up to school and tearing strips od the teacher. I still cringe now.

[ScarerAndFuck]

If you work or have younger ones you just have to run faster towards the door in a morning. The teaching assistant can only take down so many in one go, it's survival of the fastest.