Since when? If you need to do research on something then go to your local library. Not everyone owns a computer.

Back in my day we had a thing called A No. 2 Pencil

What about typed assignments? In which case OP could just watch his son while he works. I should also add that libraries don't always have up-to-date books.

You know what libraries do have? Computers

My son's high school requires the use of a computer. If you don't have one, you can use the ones in the library or rent one from the school, but even his textbooks are online now. When he's in trouble, his laptop sits on the dining room table and he does his homework where I can see he's not gaming.

apparently when I was little I convinced my younger sister that spreading nutella on toast turns the nutella into vegemite, and she hated vegemite so she stopped eating nutella on toast. Man, kids are idiots. they'll believe anything anyone older than them says

She's five.

27 - Not everyone actually, though I understand the assumption.

Protip: if you take perdix literally, you're doing it wrong.

Well, she's five in the first place. Second, he maybe have convinced her that it will happen for that time.

I was also a 4.0 student, graduated with honors and a double degree in college, and am now in graduate school. You may hate homework, but you still have to do it. Having a bad attitude towards it doesn't mean that he is also a 4.0 student - if you don't do the necessary work, you will not pass classes. This concept follows over into nearly any job - if you don't do necessary work, you are fired. This guy is being a good parent by enforcing the basic societal rules and attempting to show his kid that actions have repercussions. Additionally, what 16 year old boy deems it appropriate to be so cruelly petty to a 5 year old? That's ridiculous and completely immature, even for a 16 year old.

Yeah it didn't say he doesn't do the homework. He just hates it. He's grounded because he hates it. And a 5 year old will get over it.

Its called LIFE. You are going to do alot of "meaningless and stupid shit" plus homework is graded and its impossible to get a 4.0 without turning in homework. Because homework is counted towards your final grade. In my school, you can fail your class by not doing homework, despite getting all A's on your tests. You will be forced to do alot of meaningless crap at your career too.

Just because you hated homework and found it didn't do jack all for you does not mean it doesn't do jack for another person. Everyone learns differently. Some people find homework helpful regardless if they hate it or like it. I found it helpful while in school and my sister didn't.

@28....... So does this mean i don't have to do my essay because i find it mindless?? At least i now know if you become a teacher you'll never give homework because its too mindless for your students to complete and too mindless for you to grade.

Well, my current salary is well above that of a teacher's, so I don't think I would become one in the first place lol. I'll apologize however, since honestly my IQ and good memory made studying almost useless for me. I understand other people need to take it slow, I just hated secondary school in general.

Guys, he's trying to say that Doing Homework =/= Liking Homework. For all you know, he could be doing all his homework, but hating every moment of it, and being grounded for that.

Problem is, is that you don't know if that bad attitude towards homework is coupled with bad grades. Not everyone is a genius who can coast through school without doing extra work. Careers require you to do some things that you may find mindless, boring, and 'beneath you', but you have to do it. And without the bad attitude. Otherwise, you may be looking at being without a job. Bragging that you didn't have to do that homework, found it so unnecessary, and look! look aty grade point average! Look at how much more money I am making, just makes you come across as insufferable. The OP is trying to teach a work ethic, instill a sense of reality; and I hope a severe attitude adjustment overall to that teen. Who takes out their little anger and pettiness on an innocent bystander, the 5 year old, to get back at the parent???

Parents are petty. Sometimes that's the only way to fight back. All I'm saying is it's pretty stupid to ground a kid for hating something (which I find) inane.

the only way to fight back is to take it out on an innocent person? That is twisted.

what does that teach him? bosses in the adult world don't give you extra rewards for doing what is expected of you, but you do get disciplined if you don't do as you're told.

#30, rewarding kids for doing stuff that they should be doing anyway is not the way to go. My parents tried doing that, and it still didn't encourage me a single bit to do my homework when I was younger; on the other hand, I would be more diligent with my schoolwork whenever I knew I was going to be punished if I neglected it. And that's a much better strategy. Why? Because people will not keep on praising you for the shit you should be doing in the first place and are much more focused on bringing harsher punishments if you don't, once you get into the real world. Not to mention that a kid that retaliates this way against their parents is a shitty kid.

Has anyone ever tried actually sitting down with their kid and trying to teach them in a polite and civil manner to understand the value of responsibility and a good work ethic? This may sound ridiculous, but I believe that parents have a responsibility to use punishment and implicitly, fear, as only a last resort. I'm not assuming that OP didn't try talking to the kid first, but most parents I know have too little trust in their kids' ability to be disciplined through respect not fear of punishment. All kids are different, when I was a kid, I would rebel with a "bad attitude" (I didnt take it out on little kids btw and personally "bad attitude" is sometimes used to refer to any minor that exercises freedom of speech even if in a civil & responsible manner) as long as possible if my parent tried to teach me through "punishment," simply because I thought it was irresponsible for them to do so. If on the other hand, they showed that they were willing to sit down and talk to me, I would respect them instantly and be willing to obey if only out of respect. I may sound like a unique example, but I believe that when kids are raised to only obey for the sake of avoiding punishment, it's almost as bad as rewarding them for things they should do. It doesn't teach them anything. As a parent, one's job is to teach their kid values and virtues, teach them to actually *care*, not teach them to obey *only* as long as there will be negative repercussions. Trust me, the average little kid will respect their parents more if they felt that they were respected when they were younger.

Agreed. If all you have is punishment, the day will come when.they refuse to accept it. What do you do when you tell your 19 year old to assume the position, and he pulls the cane from your hands and snaps it in two? Your son needs to understand right and wrong, not just fear the consequences of getting caught. All that teaches him is to hide it better.

#45 its called getting paid

Teenagers hate consequences. OP needs to make the consequence of not doing something worse than the thing itself.

I loved school work. It's got me away from a crap home life.

90&103: yes parents should teach kids respect, noone said they shouldn't. discipline is used when verbal fails. in this case, verbal should be skipped based on age of the son and the severity of what he did. 17? basically an adult, and he should act accordingly.