I see allowing my kids to learn life lessons to be a part of my job as a mother. If I were to always prevent them from making a mistake, from falling down, from struggling I would also rob them of the opportunity to learn from the mistake, from getting themselves back up and from the satisfaction of a challenge overcome.
It appears that I am a mean, horrible parent because I won't coddle my son, because I won't make excuses for him when he refuses to work on his assignments, because I actually remind him to do his homework and attempt to teach him effective time management skills.
I know that he is 13 and that he would much rather be doing other things besides homework and projects for class. However, it is a necessary part of his education.
He has had a book report that he has known about since the first day of school in mid-August. It is due tomorrow. He chose to read a difficult book - Exodus by Leon Ulris. I suggested he might pick something different, something he might find interesting. He was set on reading this book because if they read a "difficult" book (according to the teacher) then they would only have to read one book for the quarter and complete a book report for one book.
He chose to take a shortcut, agree to read one difficult book.
The assignment consisted of three parts: a reading journal with 20 entries, a final project - it could be a video, a skit, they had many choices, and finally she will give them a comprehension test. It is worth 30% of their literature grade for the quarter. Keep in mind that these grades count for high school admission.
It is nearly 9:00 pm the night before the assignment is due and he has about 5 rough drafts of entries for his reading journal - and that's it. I'm frustrated and I am sitting back no longer pressuring him to get it done. He'll get done what he gets done and he'll face the consequence.
His homework, his responsibility, his consequence. I've been reminding him since the middle of September to work on this and he didn't listen.
I don't think I'm being unreasonable. I've put a lot of energy in reminding him and supporting him to do his schoolwork and I'm tired. It's a pattern that he continues that will not serve him for much longer.
So, I'm done and I hope he'll be able to see and learn the life lesson that is before him... the most important part of the lesson: Listen to your mother!
It appears that I am a mean, horrible parent because I won't coddle my son, because I won't make excuses for him when he refuses to work on his assignments, because I actually remind him to do his homework and attempt to teach him effective time management skills.
I know that he is 13 and that he would much rather be doing other things besides homework and projects for class. However, it is a necessary part of his education.
He has had a book report that he has known about since the first day of school in mid-August. It is due tomorrow. He chose to read a difficult book - Exodus by Leon Ulris. I suggested he might pick something different, something he might find interesting. He was set on reading this book because if they read a "difficult" book (according to the teacher) then they would only have to read one book for the quarter and complete a book report for one book.
He chose to take a shortcut, agree to read one difficult book.
The assignment consisted of three parts: a reading journal with 20 entries, a final project - it could be a video, a skit, they had many choices, and finally she will give them a comprehension test. It is worth 30% of their literature grade for the quarter. Keep in mind that these grades count for high school admission.
It is nearly 9:00 pm the night before the assignment is due and he has about 5 rough drafts of entries for his reading journal - and that's it. I'm frustrated and I am sitting back no longer pressuring him to get it done. He'll get done what he gets done and he'll face the consequence.
His homework, his responsibility, his consequence. I've been reminding him since the middle of September to work on this and he didn't listen.
I don't think I'm being unreasonable. I've put a lot of energy in reminding him and supporting him to do his schoolwork and I'm tired. It's a pattern that he continues that will not serve him for much longer.
So, I'm done and I hope he'll be able to see and learn the life lesson that is before him... the most important part of the lesson: Listen to your mother!