As the weekend wound down yesterday, and Mr W and I were on our way back home from a nice trip to Denver's science museum, he informed me that he brought home three of the school's minor-infraction incident reports that I had to sign. He deliberately waited until the end of the weekend of course, because he knew he'd lose computer and TV time as punishment.
What were his crimes? Well, first, he called a classmate a dork. Second, he continued to talk in the hallway after being told by his teacher not to five times. Third, and this one gets to the root of why he did indeed lose his screen time for the next week, he not only didn't do his homework, but also went on to recess when he was supposed to stay in and do the homework.
I can forgive the dork comment, that's pretty standard 4th grade stuff. And the talking is not so bad either. The actual problem is that he doesn't want to do all the homework. It's not that he doesn't understand the material, and when he finally stops kvetching he gets through it pretty quickly. To date, he has tried several things to get out of doing his homework. He's "forgotten that he had it", couldn't find it, and, my personal favorite for sheer ballsiness: he erased the note describing the assignment from his planner while I waited for him to show me what he had to do.
Eventually, he'll adjust to the new routine. We've talked before about how his "job" is to do well in school, and that he gets to do the other stuff he likes to do as a result of doing well in school. I don't think he's lazy, he just doesn't see the point of the endless stream or worksheets. I agree, to a point. It bums him out considerably, but I told him that this is training for the next umpteen years of school ahead of him.
The good thing about this kind of punishment, is that it mellows him out. He doesn't get unlimited time for his video games; he's got to earn time by reading, so it's kind of self-regulating that way. Still, he gets squirrelly if he has too much screen time, and maybe this break will help him reset his view of having to do homework.
And yarn karma! I've been working on a pair of socks and underestimated the amount of yarn I'd need. I bought it from the yarn shop up the street about 6 months ago. Usually this would mean that I'd have no hope of getting another ball because they wouldn't have any more, but Mr W and I stopped in on Saturday, and they did have another ball. Too bad these will now be $30 socks, a little rich for my blood, but they'll be nice when they're done.
They sent home a written report for calling a kid a dork? Goodness me. That seems so minor for a 4th grade boy. . .and such a sweet one at that!
ReplyDeleteHappy for you about the yarn!
the dork thing...that's not so bad- I'm a dork, at least that's what my kids say when I embarass them. I say, yeah but I'm YOUR dork...like right now "Sweet Home Alabama" came on the Pandora and i picked up my cell phone...well, it IS my ringtone, but it isn't lit up or anything and I saw that and STILL picked it up to listen, you know, just in case!!
ReplyDeleteThe homework thing... for me this is about when it started kicking in for all 3 of my boys. The youngest told me last year that homework was just a waste of his time! Yep!, but you still have to do it, sport!
And I'm taking my first sock class tomorrow. I have 3 friends going, too, who have all done a sock and are working on #2, but they all wanted to take this class, so...I'll watch out for the really GOOD yarn and maybe pass on that...at least the first time!
Claire - I mailed the chicken check(en) today, sorry for the delay.
ReplyDeleteKaren Sue, best of luck on the sock class. Socks get to be intuitive pretty fast. My unsolicited advice is to get enough yarn to make three socks the first time and you can keep the best two!