First, a disclaimer--my daughter couldn't sleep last night, which, of course, means I couldn't sleep last night, and to make matters worse, our smoke alarm randomly went off not once, but twice in the middle of the night! So, if you were listening to this blog instead of reading it, you would hear that tired, whiny voice that I send my children upstairs to bed for using.
Now then, do any of you three who actually may glimpse at this blog occasionally have any advice whatsoever for helping a child remember to take their homework to school and turn it in????
And, yes, I realize my kids must learn to suffer the consequences for their actions, but when we've just spent the last 1700 days telling our Freshman how high school actually counts for something, and you have to perform well if you want to get into college, I still feel the necessity to bail him out on the second day of school. Hey, the government can do bail outs, so can I, right (of course, maybe they should have handled things differently, but there it is)?
Am I wrong? The only problem with that, then is the fact that since it is only the second day of school (and the kids just got their schedules the first day at school, so we parents didn't even see where their classrooms are--I think they do that on purpose--note to self: get a copy of his schedule and go locate his classes) I have no idea where my son is right now. When I got to the school they told me I was not allowed to go to the classroom without pre-arranging a visit with the teacher, so I could not take him his work myself (I even told them my plan to show up, embarrass him badly enough that he never forgets his work again--they didn't like my plan). So, I asked if they could give him his work. They said no. They could put it in a drawer for him to pick up at the office. So, I asked if they could send him a note to come pick it up. They said no. So, I asked how he was supposed to know it was there. They said I could text him. I said his phone was off--AS PER SCHOOL RULES NOT TO BE USING YOUR PHONE DURING SCHOOL HOURS! They said sorry. Sorry? (this was the point where my former, less diplomatic self would have ranted about parental rights at a public institution and would have made a break past the 102 pound 16-year-old manning the front desk and gone running from class to class calling my child's name until the 122 pound woman--not sure what her title is--driving the golf cart around locking the gates, ran me down)
I took a deep breath, smiled, and walked away (then I called my husband and cried out on the sidewalk--remember, sleep deprived).
Well, they are sorry, I'm sure. And I forgive them. Otherwise my frustration will fester and boil and bubble up until I write scathing e-mails and blogs and make angry phone calls and contact the school board, Congressman, President, and Jon Stewart. In fact, I not only forgive, but I thank them for bringing to my attention my need to have a back-up plan for emergencies. When the zombies and aliens invade our town, I need to know that my son will not be getting the message. So I better have an escape plan, a meeting place, and figure out where the biggest hole in the school fence is.
But until then--back to the question at hand--does anyone have any suggestions for getting a kid to turn in his homework on time?
Oh, where do I start? I am STUNNED that they will not allow a PARENT to show up in their child's classroom without an APPOINTMENT??? This is NOT the state penitentiary, this is HIGH SCHOOL! And a woman on a golf cart...and text your son...and put it in a drawer? Good grief...forget homework...pull him out of school and let him watch the history channel at home. He'll probably get more out of that anyway...sigh. I'm sleep deprived to...did I just rant and rave and not really solve the problem?
ReplyDeleteSo from the perspective of a mother who's oldest child is, ahem, just entering kindergarten...
ReplyDeleteI remember a really excellent talk from Elder Robbins on being vs doing where he specifically suggests praising your child for turning in his homework. I guess find something (since the homework thing has sort of fallen through) where you can praise him profusely. Also, I do think you SHOULD contact the school about having some sort of plan in place where you can send at least a note to the student during the school day. What if something more serious had happened and you just needed to let him know that you'd be late to pick pick him up or he needed to take care of something unexpectedly. Surely the school can accommodate something like that in a reasonable way. I do think it is reasonable to expect him to pick up his own homework from the office. Good luck with that! Hope the rest of the year goes a little more smoothly.