by K. Russell

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 17, 2010

Too much homework hurts children in the same way that adults are worn down, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually,  by a full-time job that continues for too long at home. These excessive time demands interfere with household chores, social activities, and physical fitness. Too much homework hurts children by cutting in to the free time they need to develop their social, physical and other skills that are often learned through play.

Play is not just for fun, although it certainly looks and feels that way. Too much homework hurts children by interfering with this critical time. Play is a mechanism that teaches sharing, communication, competition and other social skills. Playtime is filled with running, jumping, climbing, laughing and imaginative character acting. All of these activities are critical to the normal, healthy development of human beings and too much homework detracts from these necessary developments.

School districts publish homework guidelines and recommendations, generally in the form of how many hours of homework can or should be assigned for each grade level. What these guidelines fail to take into consideration is the other activities that make up a child's day: day care, private music, dance, swimming and other lessons, sports teams, travel time, meals and time for household chores and solitude. While homework certainly has its place as a tool for cementing skills through repetition, its excessive use interferes with far too many human skills that are just as valid as the academic skills.

Children need the time to be children. They need social interaction with their peers and family members. Children need time to run and play and to let their minds wander, dream, and create. The regimentation required by excessive homework assignments hurts children by interfering with these normal, natural behaviors that combine to create young adults who are well-balanced, able to communicate and apply themselves to whatever tasks may be at hand.

Excessive homework assignments create dread, aversion, and resentment toward learning, authority and productivity. If a child is struggling at school and then required to go home only to spend excessive amounts of time condemned to the kitchen table, and even more frustration and failure, those children are highly unlikely to want to continue their education. They will be far more likely to drop out of school and resent authority due to the injustice they feel was imposed upon them.

If nothing else, excessive time spent on homework is time children are forced to sit still instead of getting the exercise they so desperately need. Current levels of childhood obesity and diabetes are at all time highs. Instead of limiting play time, cutting recess and eliminating community sports teams for children, the opposite should be in place. Children require hours of playtime each day to get the physical fitness their growing bodies require. This is not to say that children shouldn't be taught the academic skills, as well. It simply points out the obvious, that children need time to be children, to play, to hang out with their friends and to have the time to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their lives.

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