While some new parents expect kindergarten to become a turning point for growing up for their children and more relaxing time for themselves, Chinese families with kindergarten pupils are complaining about homework which is not only testing the children but also the whole family.
For kindergartens, doing handicrafts as homework carries their hope for children to use more imagination and train their hands-on skills as well as the kindergarten's good wishes for more parent-child interaction, never expecting aggressive parents to step in and help their children do their work instead.
According to Chinese media outlets, the most commonly suggested homework at kindergartens are drawings and handicrafts-making, which sometimes include paintings on fan coverings and eggs, or designing homemade clothes or specimens.
"To make a specimen, you need to catch an insect first and then all the decoration objects … In the end, I bought a specimen scorpion online at 50 yuan for my kid's homework," a mother told the Spring City Evening News.
A father complained that he stayed up all night to make a plasticine "Angry Bird" for his child's homework. "It does not much have the looks of an 'Angry Bird', but I am angry," he said.
Other parents told the newspaper that their children's kindergarten homework of keeping a diary for pet raising ended up resulting in themselves taking care of the pets and keeping records for their children.
While these parents personally help their children with their homework so that their children "will not be ashamed of not finishing homework," other professional helpers are making profits out of their skills online, according to the newspaper.
