4 pm
Me: “Welcome home from school! Any homework tonight?”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
5 pm
Me: “Looks like you’re having fun. If you have homework, you could do it now.”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
6 pm
Me: “Almost dinner time. If you have homework now would be a nice, calm time to do it.”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
7 pm
Me: “Getting late. You should do any homework you might have.”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
8 pm
Me: “OK, bed time. Last chance to do homework.”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
Me: “Really? Are you sure? You really don’t have homework?”
Child: “Nope! I don’t have homework today!”
Me: “OK, let’s get you tucked in for the night.”
8:22 pm
Me: “Why are you back downstairs? I already tucked you in.”
Child: “I just remembered I have homework. If I don’t turn it in tomorrow, I have to repeat the fifth grade. Oh, and we need sixteen pounds of sugar, a handmade broccoli costume, twenty-seven strings of yellow Xmas lights, and a live moose.”