My daughter is a chronic forgetter. She got a B in gym because she forgot her shoes over half the time. She should have got an F. She forgets her homework, her lunch, her permission slip. She forgets to put her dish in the sink, the towel on the hook, her shoes by the door.
I know what some of you are thinking. I need to remind her about her shoes and bring her homework to her when she forgets it. Aren't parents supposed to help their kids succeed? And oh my God, a B in gym! She may not get into Harvard if I don't bring her shoes to her!
I realize some of this may seem like lazy parenting. I never read her assignment notebook or look through her backpack. I don't even check her homework to make sure everything is right. I don't help her on school projects, so hers is often the most amateur - which it should be because she's nine! Does the teacher really believe a parent didn't "help" the girl who made the three dimensional paper mache goblet for her book report cover?
But I do struggle a little. We've missed a back to school picnic and two fundraisers because I never got the flyers. Well, I was secretly relieved about missing the fundraisers. However, her missing homework or misreading directions makes me sweat a bit. Should I look over her shoulder to ensure good grades? How will she learn to be accountable? I have to let her learn these hard lessons now. That way if she forgets her term paper in her dorm room, I won't have to drive to Harvard to go get it and bring it to her.
We have to let our kids forget things and suffer the consequence to make them responsible. Right? Right? Please tell me I am right, because I saw her tennis shoes by the back door, and it's a gym day.
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