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In his book, “Ending the Homework Hassle,” Rosemond provides parents with sound management strategies and outlines seven hidden values of homework.

   1. Responsibility:  Homework is a responsibility that rightfully belongs to the student, not the parents.  Kids need to assume ownership of that which rightly belongs to them and learn to fulfill their obligations.  When parents take over this responsibility by getting too involved, they send the message to their youngster that they are not capable of handling their own duties.  This, in turn, leads to an increasing dependence on mom and dad to bail them out.  NEVER do any part of the homework for your youngster.  Rather, assist by helping them figure ways to accomplish assignments on their own.

   2. Autonomy:  To be self-governing, you need to stand on your own two feet.  Homework is the first time someone other than a parent has assigned tasks to a child on a consistent basis.  In that sense, homework breaks new ground because kids are now accountable outside the family.

   3. Perseverance:  To confront challenge with determination, to strive in spite of difficulties, youngsters need to complete what they set out to accomplish.  There is no point to a student doing homework if every time they become frustrated, parents absorb the frustration and make it all better.  Parents sometimes act as if one of their primary tasks is to protect their child from frustration.  They may believe that standing aside and letting their child grapple with frustration, especially when the grappling could have been prevented, is neglectful and perhaps even abusive.  This type of intervention only delays important life lessons which will only become harder as the stakes rise with age.

   4. Time Management:  The ability to organize time in an effective, productive manner without compromising quality is very important in school and the future world of work.

   5. Initiative:  Initiative is like a muscle.  If it’s exercised, it strengthens.  When parents assume too much initiative for their child, the child will not develop strength to exercise it on their own and will lack self-motivation and ability to define and pursue goals.

   6. Self-Reliance:  Managed properly, homework empowers, affirms, enlarges, fulfills, actualizes and enables a student’s capacity for competence.  It helps them to acquire trust in their own abilities which is the route of self-confidence.

   7. Resourcefulness:  When kids develop the capacity to find, invent and adapt by their own creative means, they can face problems with the confidence needed to overcome the obstacle.