Making Time for Homework

My husband and I are working, if not overworked, parents. Our daughter, a third-grader, simply does not understand how bushed we are when we get home. She does not like the fact that we don't make a habit of helping her with her homework every night. She is also upset because we don't have the time or energy to help her with all the projects that she is expected to do at school. Frankly, we aren't too happy either with all the projects that we are supposed to work on with her.
How can we let our child know that we really do care about her school work? She does not think we do. - Working Parents
Answer: If your daughter is doing well in school and handling her homework without any input from you, this is a good thing. The more responsibility children take for handling their homework, the better. Your child is acquiring good habits that bode well for future success at school. Praise her frequently for being so competent.
What your daughter is probably missing is more input from you on the good work she is doing. One of you needs to look at her work each day and talk it over with her. You are going to have to find the time for this. One possibility is having her gather what she wants to show you and then talk about it at the dinner table. This should work. You also need to make a habit of everyone talking about his or her day at that time so your child can talk about school as well as share in what you are doing at work.
As far as the projects go, your child might need some help from you. She is quite young to organize and complete a project on her own unless the teacher has carefully chosen one that she can handle. Because projects are often assigned quite far in advance, try to work on them on weekends rather than stressing out during the week. Besides helping her get the necessary supplies for a project, spend most of your time helping her organize it. Then the project will be hers instead of yours, which is the idea, after all. If your child is being inundated with too many projects with very little lead time, make your views about this practice known to the teacher.