Would you use a “homework helper”?

Just when you thought the price of having kids couldn't get any higher, the New York Times lets you know that the Joneses (or the Sternberg's in this case) have started employing "homework helpers." Filling a hybrid role of organizer/ babysitter/ motivational coach, homework helpers focus less on subject specific tutoring and more on making sure assignments get finished and handed in on time. And the price for this "academic support"? About $100 an hour.

If that sum makes you gasp a little, you're not alone. Just about everyone in the article agreed that while homework helpers reduced everything from lost assignments, to lack of follow through, to unwanted "friction" between parents and kid, they were also a pretty big "luxury" afforded mainly by families in Manhattan its wealthy suburbs.

There also seems to be at least one major drawback to hiring homework helpers, who can become "a crutch," as one Manhattan private school principal puts it. Sure, the assignment will be completed and handed in, but what about learning the more elusive skill of staying focused on your own, motivating and organizing at your own pace, or even just understanding how your own day should work? What happens when college hits and there is no homework helper?

Nothing, if you've hired the right one, according to Emily Glickman, the founder of Abacus Guide to Educational Consulting.

"A good homework helper is one who teaches a child so that they no longer need a homework helper," she told the Times.