It's lovely to see how seriously children take their educational responsibilities when they first move up to high school.

Our youngest is currently religiously getting his homework diary signed by us on a weekly basis and is pursuing the acquisition of credits for all he is worth.

Homework is also being diligently and enthusiastically completed and any letters home to parents are handed over the minute he walks through the door at the end of the school day.

All of this will, naturally, change with time. If his two older brothers are anything to go by, then he will eventually slip into presenting his homework diary for our signatures several weeks late and only after being nagged by his form tutor to do so.

Credits will lose their appeal, homework will become a hated chore to be completed at the last possible moment, and parents' letters will languish in the bottom of his bag until I go searching for them.
Of course, this happens to us all at times.

A new job becomes mundane once the initial excitement of a fresh challenge has abated.

A new home is fun to decorate and furnish when you first move in, but by the time a repaint is needed the task has lost its appeal.

A new car is lovingly handwashed and polished for the first few weeks and left on the driveway for the neighbours to admire. But then gradually the constant cleaning becomes a bore and it's once a month down the car wash if you can be bothered.

But with children's education, it's a little more important for parents to try to keep the enthusiasm going.

After all, there are five years of it to get through in high school and hopefully two more at sixth form or college, followed by another three or more at university.

I bowed out of full-time education after I finished my
A-levels and not going to university is something I have always regretted.

So I'm very keen for my children to take up the opportunity, particularly as it seems the possession of a degree is ever more important in today's competitive jobs market.

I'm really not sure how you keep children interested in homework though – especially as teenagers seem to take a pride in being bored with everything.

Answers on a postcard, please!