(despite the elaborate caveat below, thank you for the detailed answer to my question; it seems like a very promising thing to try)
But if you treat the 10-minute homework as something not worthy of praise or mention, the child might feel cheated. Other kids are being praised for much less impressive efforts. I know I'm doing better than most in my class; why is this overlooked? Am I being penalized for my smarts? Perhaps I'm better off making the homework seem like a huge deal, and finishing it in two hours of seemingly herculean effort?
The parent may think it right to raise the bar as far as the child's aptitude allows, but the child won't necessarily feel this policy to be fair. And most children are naturally apt at gaming parental policies.
But if you treat the 10-minute homework as something not worthy of praise or mention, the child might feel cheated. Other kids are being praised for much less impressive efforts. I know I'm doing better than most in my class; why is this overlooked? Am I being penalized for my smarts? Perhaps I'm better off making the homework seem like a huge deal, and finishing it in two hours of seemingly herculean effort?
The parent may think it right to raise the bar as far as the child's aptitude allows, but the child won't necessarily feel this policy to be fair. And most children are naturally apt at gaming parental policies.