timelymatters

I failed the “Being Lazy”

December 14th, 2007

My last blog was about sitting back and letting your child suffer the consequences of his actions (or lack of action), and I mentioned that I failed at this one many times. As I was “rescuing” my child, I remember that I would always be feeling angry; angry at myself for buckling under, and angry at my child for “making me” do something. One particular time, I can remember as if it were yesterday. All three of my children had to do the California Mission report in fourth grade. Two completed it on time, but one son waited until the last minute to finish. His three-page report was completely handwritten, but not typed. He was miserably sitting at the computer at 10:00 PM typing at a painfully slow speed. I knew at the rate he was going, he wouldn’t finish until 1:00AM. I was angry at him for procrastinating, and at first, I resisted doing the typing myself. But then, I just couldn’t stand it. He was so exhausted and frustrated. I told him that I would type the paper, but he had to pay me $2.00 a page. He hated to part with money, but he took me up on it. I typed away, but as I was typing, I remember yelling at him, “I shouldn’t be doing this! You should have finished this earlier!! Don’t ever expect me to do this again!”
And to this day, I still feel I made a mistake. He turned his paper in on time, but through high school he had a tendency to procrastinate (although I never typed any more papers for him.) Whenever I saw that he was late, I always remembered that Mission report and questioned whether I should not have buckled under, letting him fail that project. I just have to look on the bright side of that experience; I made $6.00.

Entry Filed under: Daily Routines for Kids