When her 7-year-old daughter asked her for help with her homework, Alyssa Dawson, 36, from Arizona, wasn’t expecting the assignment to come back to haunt her.
The homework prompt had asked students to “draw a shape with 6 corners and 6 sides” and “then draw lines in your shape to show 2 squares and 4 triangles”—an instruction that left both mother and daughter stumped.
In a viral video on Instagram with more than 2.3 million views, Dawson shared a picture of the homework sheet, which is now proudly framed in the family home. In the space for the answer, the 7-year-old shared an adorably misspelled confession: “I asct for help but my mom dusent noe the anser eather,” which translates to “I asked for help but my mom doesn’t know the answer either.”
“When I saw the answer she put, I started cracking up. It was so hilarious because she was completely right,” Dawson told Newsweek.
In the caption on the video, she wrote: “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by your child’s homework.” She added: “When your kid asks for homework help and exposes your lack of knowledge.”
@lyssadawson/Instagram
Dawson isn’t alone; according to the National Center for Families Learning’s annual survey, more than 60 percent of parents with children in grades K to 8 admit they have trouble helping with their children’s homework.
Reasons for struggling with homework help ranged not understanding the subject matter (33.5 percent) to pushback from their kids (41 percent).
In the comments, people shared their reactions—including lots of comments from fellow parents who could relate to Dawson’s situation.
“What kind of instructions were those even??? LOOOL [laugh out loud] got me pausing and trying to draw that out and gave up,” commenter chethawleyz said.
Samanthaodonnell_az said: “This is one of the best things you’ve posted.”
Others commented on the decision to frame and keep the homework page. “I love that it’s framed,” said saintmother2.
Other commenters helped out by sharing the answer to the question, like indyunleashed, who said: “Hint: hexagon. It’s quite easy lol.”
“I shared it on Instagram because I thought it was funny and relatable,” Dawson said about the video, shared in April. “So many parents have been and are in my shoes, and I love bringing everyone together like this. I also love showing the fun and funny side of being a mom.”
This isn’t the first time a child’s homework has stumped a parent. Earlier this year, a dad was left questioning his “sanity” over a 7-year-old’s math homework. Another father was stumped over his daughter’s second-grade homework about pizza.