Thursday, January 7, 2010

Reading or Mom as Prom Date... do the math...

My son Alex, has a 977 page book he has to read by the End of January.
He needs to read hundreds of pages everyday to make the deadline.
Oh, have I mentioned... Alex considers ANY sort of reading akin to having metal shoved under his fingernails.
So tonight, after our dinner, it was his turn to dry the dishes and wipe the counter, and while doing so... the following whining ensued...
***
Alex: Mom... you know that book I'm supposed to be reading?
Me: Yeah...
Alex: Well, other parents think the book is too long and they are buying their kids the Cliff's Notes and other summarizing stuff... (he is now looking at me with anticipation) (like he expects me to throw down my sponge, wave my hands in the air and yell "Hallelujah! You don't have to read anymore! We'll just go cheat! Wow, I'm so glad other parents can parent for me!"
Me: Well, if that's what the other parents want to teach their kids... fine by me... YOU on the other hand, will be reading it word for word...
Alex: But MOOOOMMM! It's so loooooong! Why can't we just go buy the other books???
Me: Because that teaches you NOTHING! Half of the learning is from finishing something that is assigned to you!
Alex: My life is so hard... I go to school, I come home, I do my homework, I play sports, and I have NO DOWN TIME! No breaks, no "me" time.
Me: Staring at him. Trying not to laugh hysterically. Wishing I had a video camera trained on him at that very moment...so one day, while his kids are all sitting around me asking me how their daddy used to be...I can just whip it out and say... "Just. Like. This".
I said to him "Don't even get me started about "down time" mister. You want down time? Do all your homework without going off on some tangent, or talking incessantly to your brother, or deciding that during homework, your sock drawer needs to be organized or you need to text yet another friend... there's your downtime buddy."
Alex: We don't get to watch TV during the week, we don't get to go out to dinner during the week, we don't do anything but sports and study...
Me: Poor, Poor baby. You go to a wonderful private school, you play every sport you want to, we go on 6 vacations a year, you've been to two continents, you've seen every major city in America... yeah... your life SUCKS! I'll pull you out of school tomorrow, save us a bundle of money, and when prom time comes around... I'LL BE YOUR DATE... IN THE LIVING ROOM!
I wonder where you can still buy disco balls... hmmm....
***
He shut right up after that... and he is now in his room, tackling that book and his homework...
He even did a load of laundry...
Gosh... I wouldn't have made THAT bad of a prom date...LOL!

5 comments:

  1. lol, I love it! I remember those not-so-distant days of thinking life is just oh-so-hard for teenagers... Always working for no pay! Always relying on those PARENTS to buy things! Oh the humanity!

    Then came the job. And then college. And then the mortgage, with those pesky bills. And then the most beautiful babe in the world who took a year to learn how to sleep. Oh, how I miss those "hard" teen days... Of course the larger the responsibility, the better the rewards too :)

    I'm so glad you're a "horrible" parent who makes their kids actually DO their assignment! And I'm sure he is/will be too :) It'll be that much harder on all his peers when they have one of those "horrible" supervisors that actually make them DO their work, lol

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  2. Angela...

    Thank you sooo much! I feel so great knowing other parents agree!!!

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  3. Love this article. It reminds me of telling my kids "Either do your homework or Dad and I dance at your high school football game on Friday."

    Both of them graduated near the top of the class. Imagine that.

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  4. Good for you to expect him to actually read the book. Funny how you actually got him to go read. I think it's nice you have a good sense of humor!

    I decided to become a follower.

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  5. That was a great post...I had a similar conversation with my daughter recently

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