Ahhh a nice three day weekend. It's Labor Day weekend here . I'm a proud member of the union so I especially like this holiday. So it's time for a lazy weekend right ? Uhm you are familiar with my life , correct ? Oh sure we will have much jocularity and play but first tis time to do the basics if house keeping we've let slide.
I noticed this week junior mint is still trying to avoid work ( at school and home) and still struggles with challenges. With that said I believe he will conquer that personality flaw this year. He finally met a teacher that calls him on it and won't let him succeed at failing or quitting. He knows I don't either so he's going through some growing pains before his growth spurt .
He's very bright but hasn't learned to work hard . Everything has come easy for him which was good but now is a hinderance. He needs to learn how to push through challenges .
His first challenge - stop whining when given a direction or choice that he doesn't like. His second challenge - work hard either when it's a easy or hard task. AHis third challenge - relax .
So I will take this Labor Day weekend , clean the house , play , and relax . In that order .
Thanks for reading about us again today folks.
Ken, I'm dealing with the same problem, only my junior mint is 17 and a senior in high school... I had a chat with him the other day which fomented a bit of rebellion.
ReplyDeleteI asked, apparently, for the impossible.
I told him to stop making excuses for himself, and to stop blaming others when he comes up short.
You mustn't allow him to deflect responsibility when it comes to homework, housework, or anything else he expects to achieve. The key is to make him feel like he's not meeting your expectations. He has to come to expect it from himself.
When you feel like you're not meeting someone else's expectations, you feel miserable and dejected. If you miss your own expectations, you have more control of the situation and learn to adjust so you can be successful next time. Afterall, the only person you can change is YOU.
So give him ownership of the expectations. Be there to guide them, but don't make them yours.
Lee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteGood with your young one. Thanks for the sound advice . We are definitely focused on ownership this year and trying to unlearn learned behaviors . I've girded my loins and am prepared to guide him through theses rocky waters but it up to him to work hard , tack the sails and make the adjustments needed .
Thanks again buddy .
Amen to that. Whenever I was tempted to be lazy, my Dad would simply give me a look like he was disappointed in me. I would feel SO bad, since I dearly loved my father. I would tackle whatever task I had to do with gusto just to replace that disappointed look with a smile.
ReplyDeleteI have a lousy teacher/disappointed dad look
ReplyDelete