Best Of
Links
Categories
Archives
Search
Subscribe
Taking stock of my day—
I have three children.
1. Child #3 (Kate)’s speech therapist came for a home visit. I explained that I was pleased that she is saying a few more words and phrases, but frustrated that I have gotten nowhere with “articulation practice,” where I am supposed to help a 2 year old practice the sounds that are difficult for her to make. (Do you see a problem with this plan?) I may be a bad person, but I actually felt pleased when said 2 year old first covered her mouth, then turned around and put her bottom in the air after the speech therapist pushed her to make the “k” sound a few too many times. [It isn't just me!] Ultimately #3 hid and refused to say goodbye. Oh yes, speech therapy is going well.
2. I asked child #2 (Duncan) to empty the dishwasher. He said he was hungry. I said, “Great! Because I have a special treat for you right after you get that dishwasher finished!” It was more than three hours before he got any food because it was more than three hours before he was ready to empty the dishwasher. I suspect he might have eaten some of the trail mix that was supposed to be the special treat while I wasn’t looking though.
3. I didn’t take child #1 (Amelia) to Shakespeare for Kids although she desperately wanted to go, because she spent the entire day doing her chores and homework. Shakespeare is supposed to be a reward for doing her chores and homework well and quickly. We are not there yet.
One huge success today was that we found some large grid paper at Office Depot. [Amelia explained to me during a review of her homework that the reason I cannot read her numbers is because I am not trying hard enough, but I don't know, I think it might be something else!] The smaller quad ruled squares were too small for Amelia to fit her numbers in. I think the large grid paper might represent a significant boon to her future in math. It is important for your math answers to be readable in settings other than standardized tests! Unfortunately, Amelia hates the paper. She is no fan of anything that would make her look different from the other kids. I hold out a weak hope that once she sees it’s useful . . .
Comments
4 Responses to “Children and Consequences”
Leave a Reply
Maybe you know this already, but your children are 100% normal! I like to remind myself when kids are being defiant that stubborn-ness is a very helpful quality to have as an adult in the real world. I worry a tiny bit about children who are overly compliant, that they’ll grow up to be passive, which is not a helpful quality to have. I’ve realized that I’m going to spend my entire summer trying to motivate my children (I don’t think I’d be cut out to do home school all year).
I’m glad it’s not just my kids acting like this. Good luck with yours. Keep smiling and try to praise them for the good they do.
I love grid paper and I am sure I would be better at math today if my mom had intervened early enough. Good job.
I was checking Amelia’s math homework tonight and can vouch that the grid paper is working miracles. Though it doesn’t force organization (paper alone cannot remove free agency–this requires the addition of a parent) it does provide a good framework for allowing easy organization of numbers. Amelia’s biggest problem in math is the organization required to carry out these multi-step problems without losing track of something. With the paper she is making good progress.