# Martin Van Buren and every parent's homework nightmare **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541 "2013-02-07T02:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/1 "2013-02-07T02:29:28Z")
Funny ad for Google Search: [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyJZqHyKKIw) I have to admit, I would _not_ be pleased with any kid of mine who sprang a homework assignment on me like that. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/2 "2013-02-07T02:52:08Z")
Heh, OK, I laughed when I saw the completed costume. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/3 "2013-02-07T15:43:00Z")
I’m thinking that there should be a follow-up ad for Wikipedia, where the mother changes Van Buren’s wiki page to have a picture of her daughter, and delivers her to school as-is. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/4 "2013-02-07T16:00:51Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I’m thinking that there should be a follow-up ad for Wikipedia, where the mother changes Van Buren’s wiki page to have a picture of her daughter, and delivers her to school as-is. That WOULD be clever. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/5 "2013-02-07T17:26:48Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I’m thinking that there should be a follow-up ad for Wikipedia, where the mother changes Van Buren’s wiki page to have a picture of her daughter, and delivers her to school as-is. “I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don’t like to lose.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/6 "2013-02-07T17:46:42Z")
I’d just take the class to[Lindenwald](http://www.nps.gov/mava/index.htm). ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/7 "2013-02-07T17:58:05Z")
I know this is supposed to be a funny commercial and all, but if my kid had pulled something like that at the last second, she’d have gotten a failing grade. \* Lack of planning on your part, etc.\* Come to think if it, if it was the kid’s homework, why the heck was mom doing it anyway??? There’s a second peeve… ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/8 "2013-02-08T02:17:44Z")
So I got home tonight and Mrs Iggy informs me that mini-Iggy needs money to buy a book for school. A little discussion with mini-Iggy and we find out she needs to not just buy the book. She needs to read the book and complete a book report before mid-day tomorrow. :smack: Google Search isn’t going to save the day on this one. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/9 "2013-02-08T02:39:36Z")
My mom’s favorite complaint along this line is the urgent need for a signed permission slip and $7.35 (has to be exact change!) the morning of the field trip. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/10 "2013-02-08T14:42:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’d just take the class to[Lindenwald](http://www.nps.gov/mava/index.htm). Or have them hang out with the [Van Buren Boys.](http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheVanBurenBoys.htm) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/11 "2013-02-08T15:01:50Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > So I got home tonight and Mrs Iggy informs me that mini-Iggy needs money to buy a book for school. > > A little discussion with mini-Iggy and we find out she needs to not just buy the book. She needs to read the book and complete a book report before mid-day tomorrow. :smack: > > Google Search isn’t going to save the day on this one. How old is mini-Iggy and how long is the book? My reaction to one of my kids would be, “get crackin’ or die tryin’.” When I was in HS, I once had an over-the-holiday-break English class assignment to read a book of our own choosing and write a paper on it. To earn brownie points with the teacher, who I knew liked Dickens, I selected the biggest, baddest Dickens book of them all: “Bleak House”. The paperback edition of it that I got had just over 1,000 pages. Of Dickens. I put off reading it until the Saturday before going back to school (on Monday) when it was due. I read Dickens for almost 20 hours straight, with a 4 hour nap and some feeding time, with occasional note taking. Outlined a paper, took another nap, wrote a 15 page paper and handed it in. So if my kid was a procrastinator, so be it. I understand. But at the end of the day, the piper gets paid. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/12 "2013-02-08T15:47:43Z")
My kid’s schools have gone to the policy of having teachers emailing parents whenever any major project gets assigned. It’s been a lifesaver. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/13 "2013-02-08T15:57:39Z")
could have been worse. she could have been assigned _Millard Fillmore._ ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/14 "2013-02-08T16:34:54Z")
Reminds me of a thematically similar ad that ran on Spanish TV – Only the kid says to his mom that there is a big event at school and he is supposed to be dressed as a “castor” (in Spanish, “beaver”). Cue mother going crazy and crafting a nifty beaver costume in no time, only to drive to the school and hear the kid sing about “the shepherds going to Bethlehem” – In Spanish, shepherd is “pastor”. _ **The kid had misspoken** _. There was going to be a Christmas pageant and the kids were supposed to be dressed as _shepherds_ XD I think that, originally, that ad was from Colombia. Here it is: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HbHnYBJ9S3E/hqdefault.jpg "Disfraz de castor") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbHnYBJ9S3E) ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/15 "2013-02-08T16:49:41Z")
That first shot of the kid in the car is laugh out loud funny. Every time. I hate to point this out, but there was a Family Circus cartoon with the same exact premise – Jeffy wakes up Mom in the middle of the night with, “I forgot to tell you – I need a [whatever] costume for tomorrow.” Yeah, good luck with that, kid. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-van-buren-and-every-parents-homework-nightmare/649541/16 "2013-02-08T17:24:30Z")
Well you know Martin Van Buren was just as mean and nasty as the gang inspired by his name