How long will my kid be a kid?

Ah, emotional highs ... spiritual mountains ... they don't last forever -- the feeling of it, at least. I get that -- it's OK. I felt good -- really good -- writing my blog post yesterday. Then I made an apple crisp, to bring the sweet autumn goodness to our Book Club gathering last night. I learned that the making of my grandmother's famous treat takes as long -- to the minute -- as Richard Scarry's Mother Goose Sing-a-Long. I opened the oven door and deposited my creation on the center rack just as Mother Cat finished singing to Huckle, "Sleep, Baby, Sleep." Cool. Good to know for any future baking endeavors.

I was brought back to reality yesterday afternoon, scratching my maternal head. Every day when I pick Aidan up from school he is compelled to show me everything that is inside. Usually there's a drawing, or some craft, as well as a few worksheets that he tackled that day. Yesterday, after we completed our ritual, he said to me, "Mommy, I have homework tonight!" He seemed happy about the prospect -- it's a "big boy" thing to do, I guess -- but I was a little confused. Homework? In Kindergarten? He doesn't even go to school for an entire day. Surely homework isn't justified yet. What exactly did he mean?

Sure enough, as I pulled out another piece of paper from his bag, I saw the word "Homework" stamped on the top right hand corner. Theoretically, it wasn't a big deal: it was a single sheet of paper with the words "Color and Draw" at the top. There was a big letter "B" and a small letter "b" and a picture of a boy, all of which need to be colored. Below that were the Famous Lines which I remembered oh-so-well from my own kindergarten days:There was one for the uppercase "B" stretching across the page, like above, and then another one below that for the lower case "b."

Like I said, it wasn't a big deal. This activity probably took him about 5 minutes. That's not my point. My point is this:

He's only five years old!

He's a kid! A little boy! He still calls me "Mommy." He still sleeps with his little teddy bears. He can't live -- or sleep -- without Blue Blanket. What is this child doing with homework?

I overheard two of the other moms in the hallway talking about this, as we waited for the class to let out. They were not pleased. One woman said she was reading about this "issue" -- starting homework at such an early, early age -- and what they're finding is not that the kids can't do it (because clearly they can), but that they experience "homework burnout" at an early age. In other words, you're basically setting them up for a fall later on. For burnout. And we adults know that burnout stinks and it has no place whatsoever in the world of children.

I am not a teacher. But something about this doesn't sit right with me. I think of my nephew, who will be 10 years old next month, who doesn't bring a backpack or book bag to school, but rather a small "carry-on" suitcase (of sorts), complete with a pull-handle and wheels, because it's so stuffed with books and hours of homework that he has to wheel the thing to and from school due to its astronomical weight. He's only 10 years old, a young boy, wheeling his homework around because he can't lift it, tackling 2+ hours of homework a night. At the age of TEN. I think I had two hours of homework when I hit high school ... not at that young age.

What's going on here? What am I in for with my son, and daughter? Is it just me, or are other parents' antennae whizzing out of control with these vibes? Are there red flags popping up? This is all new territory for me ... but it's territory I'm not all that comfortable with.