And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Kahlil Gibran



Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The Mean Mommy

Big Sprout is turning out entirely too much like her Barefoot Mommy. To start with, she is super smart. She tests in the top 5% on those standardised tests they make the kids take (and yes, I know those tests are crap, but I still claim bragging rights). Unfortunately, a more forgetful and unorganised gal there never was.

Except for me.

Anyway, she has been getting late assignment notices EVERY WEEK since school started. I was furious, to say the least. Here is my really smart daughter just throwing away her opportunity to get an education because she is too busy chatting with her friends to get her work done. This means that even if her papers are perfect, she cannot get full credit because they are late and marked down for that.

SO....

I started grounding her for one day per late assignment, and threatened to call her teacher every day rather than waiting for the weekly "Friday Report". I told her that if I got pushed THAT far, and I found out she had late assignments on either AWANA night or Wolfie night, that she would just have to miss out on those activities.

Hehe! Put the fear of Mommy into her, I did. After one weekend of grounding (and I go whole hog grounding, you get nothing but chores for the whole time), she has seen the light. Last week she had no late assignments, and this week she swears up and down that everything is fine so far. We will see when the report comes in on Friday....

*evil chuckle* I am definitely enjoying having the Mommy-Power....

5 comments:

Finding Pam said...

I hope that it works for you. My youngest son was one of those really smart kids too, but he had no common sense. We struggled all through high school to get him to turn in the homework. He would do and not turn it in. He has tourette's and the teachers alway let him turn it in and he still made A's. College was another matter. He has finally seen the errors of his ways. Good luck and stay strong.

I love mommy power. It rules.

Lisa said...

Interestingly enough, I just had an assignment this week in Psychology about finding the right punishment for a child. I live in the South and many people here believe that spanking is the way to go. But as a parent, I learned that you can always find a non-physical way that will make your kid squirm... like taking away a beloved activity or item!

barefoot gardener said...

Pam-
hehe

Lisa-
I have found that Big Sprout is much easier to keep in line than Little Sprout. Big Sprout really wants to please, and just the knowledge that I am unhappy is usually enough to set her straight. Little Sprout, on the other hand, only responds to spankings. I can't figure it out....

Anonymous said...

By jove, BG, I do believe you and your wonderful writing are back! Thanks. I missed it.

barefoot gardener said...

Awww, Anonymous! That's sweet. Thanks.