Easter Break
Yesterday was a non-starter for both The Child and I. Sugar hangovers, too little sleep over the past few days, the adrenalin drop after all the fun and frivolity. We were basically slugs and if it weren't for the fact that we had a friend coming from out of town for dinner and a sleep-over, I'm not sure I would have gotten out of my jammies. It was a vegging sort of day, except for the 412 loads of dishes I had to do from the feast.
But starting today things need to be different. The Child has a big school project that pretty much has to be finished this week because of volleyball playoffs next week. Homework time is going to be at a premium if, as I assume, they go all the way to the championship. Unfortunately, the only person worrying about her ability to get this thing done in time is me.
We've always told The Child that grades don't matter as much as her giving her best effort. And I mean that. I don't want her to obsess over grades or stress about academic performance. But could she maybe care a little? And I've got to find a balance between providing necessary guidance and just letting her fail if that's what it takes. At some point she has to own this stuff for herself because I don't plan on following her to college with a cattle prod.
The irony is that I was a huge procrastinator all through school, college included. I could bang out a paper the night before it was due and get at least a B. The Child, with her little friend Dyslexia, is never going to have that luxury. My job is to give her tools, like using a timer and breaking things into baby steps and try to model for her what following through looks like. Then I have to let go and hope that someday it will take.
I have a mess of editorial comments on the liturgy book and a commitment to my Author Friend for a draft by the end of the month. So in the interest of being a good role model I am soon scooting off with The Child to her room and I'll write while she writes. By day's end we'll both, I hope, have something to show for our efforts. If it can be accomplished without yelling, acrimony or Lecture 642b which briefly stated goes something like, "School is a fact of life so stop fighting it and get back to work" so much the better.
Labels: 412, feasts, volleyball
cobbled together by Moi at 7:37 AM
9 Comments:
I was a bit more fond of Lecture 871c. "If you're going to trust someone with a secret, make sure you have an equal amount of dirt on the person that you trusted it with so that you can bring them down with you should the need arise."
Just remember: sometimes lazy C students end up in the White House, and sometimes ambitious straight-A students spend all day cleaning puke out of three sets of linens.
I'm like you. All of my college papers were done at about 5am the morning before class.
Find comfort in the knowledge that you are not one of those "do as I say, not as I do" parents. Seeing her mother as a responsible adult is the best life lesson you can give her, IMHO. Oh and Lecture #27b, section 4:
"Tell it to your therapist in 20 years".
jpdc, Charlie & Angela: We must further explore the Litany of Lectures. If we compile enough of them there will actual be a handbook for parents.
Pat: Was that supposed to make me feel better? Cold comfort, dude.
Iwanski: I had a prof who tried to instruct me in the wisdom of Lecture 63, "Work hard, play hard". I got the last part down.
Sorry. I've cleaned A LOT of barf over the past 48 hours, and it's got me in a very cryptic, ambiguous mood.
Pat, It's ok. Barf sucks. Hope Little Dude is better soon.
I'm beginning to think ALL college students did/do their papers at the last minute. I know I did. I even tried to do my watercolor assignments the night before they were due, with much less success (washes need time to dry or you end up with mud). Now my college student son, who does not have quite the writing skills I had (I was great at the snow job), calls at the last minute "Mom, can you proof/edit my paper that's due in two hours?" So, Lorraine, you think you won't be following your daughter to college with a cattle prod, and maybe you won't, but cell phones are magical things. You may not be nagging her to not procrastinate, but she may well be calling you, asking if she can email you her paper for your "thoughts"...in other words, HELP! :) Fortunately, the torrent of requests for my editing skills has slowed to a dribble now that he's finishing his sophomore year. Phew!
Gina, Thanks for the heads up. The day she graduates high school I'm getting new phone numbers. And she'll have to earn the right to know them.
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