How much help should you give your children with homework?

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When my kids were growing up, I always emphasized getting the homework done early. My oldest child would sit down and 15 minutes to an hour or so later it was finished. My youngest on the other hand would sit down and work on 15 minutes worth of homework for the next 6 hours. I normally only helped the older one when she was stumped. The younger one always tempted me to help her just to get the ordeal overwith. Sometimes I caved in and sometimes I didn't. But, overall, I would have to say the younger one received 10 times the help of the older one. They have both grown up and completed college degrees generally without any help from me except huge piles of cash. So, neither approach seems to have a clear advantage over the other. I did, however, often help both when I deemed the homework as too extreme in quantity or difficulty. I also enjoyed working with them both on large longer term projects.