When you were in school, did you parents ever help you with homework??
Mine did not, in fact they pretty much stayed out of it totally. Even when I needed something typed, my Mom would sit me down in front of the typewritier and let me at it. With plenty of white chalk error removal tape that is…
Times are different today. I do think today kids get more homework. But I know when my son was in the younger grades (K-6), that sometimes homework projects were more a competition between parents than the kids. In 5th grade my son had to make a crazy project, kind of like a mousetrap, that required diagrams, working models, and all. While I know kids have the capacity to create wild ideas, its a whole other thing to implement them. My husband and his brother spent a whole day trying to build out a project for my son’s 5th grade project. It was pretty cool and David (son) was a proud as any child could be.
But I digress…this morning was another one of those special homework moments. It all started last night and I must set the stage. First, it was the start of CCD, which runs from 6:15-7:45. It’s a good thing I input all the calendar dates over the weekend, or I would have blown right by it. Of course, at 6 pm son is asking “What’s for dinner” and I haven’t started a thing. Then my iPhone beeped to remind me he needs to go to CCD. So off he goes, no dinner but a yogurt. Also leading up to this moment, my son was asking me for help on a project for school. Yea, yea…we’ll do it later. Well, turned out there never was a later.
While he’s at CCD, my grandson gets dropped off, and in that timeframe I completely lose track of when David need to be picked up. Then my husband bounds up stairs, its 7:52 pm (he gets picked up at 7:45), and he said “Did you get the boy?” “No, I didn’t”… and he dashes out the door.
Mind you I’m running around after my grandson, and I’ve totally lost track of my own son. What happened here??? I think I’m losing my mind. Three minutes after my husband leaves, the phone rings. My son is wondering what happened, clearly he’s the last boy left at CCD. My heart breaks, I feel like crap. What a shitty parent I am – forgetting about my own son while taking care of another’s. Not that I don’t love my grandson, I do, but it adds a new level of distraction in my life that I’m having a harder time seeing through.
So, long story short, both father and son come home. Son has booming headache, and runs upstairs. I coddle him, trying to make up for the fact that we forgot about him. But wait…Hmm…didn’t he have a project due tomorrow?
So this morning comes, its 7:15 and son is not up yet. SURPRISE! Here we go, week 3. I go get him moving and ask him about the project. Turns out it is not done. So what do I do? I END UP TYPING STUFF ON THE COMPUTER SO HE CAN PASS IT IN. What the heck is wrong with me? This is what I complain about. But I did neglect him the night before. And I wonder what is wrong with this generation?
Now I work at home, but that doesn’t mean I’m emotionally available to help him after school. I may be there in physical body, but if I’m in the zone, I’m in the zone. Plus he’s in 7th grade for gosh sakes, shouldn’t he step up here?
So, I bring him to school late, with an excused note for being tardy, with 2 completed projects in hand. He feels great. I feel like I am out of my mind.
Lord, help me please…
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