The year of grounding.
I've decided that I hate middle school and I hate 11-12 year olds.
The boy is full of arguments lately. Arguments and excuses...there is NOTHING I hate more than excuses. Just own up to what you did.
He got Cs and Ds last term. My child whose almost always been at the top of his class, my child who I've always heard, "oh, he's SO smart" at conferences...my child who I want to do better.
The teachers still think he's bright and indeed he is a quick thinker or else I wouldn't have such arguments with him.
The problems?
Turning in his homework. I MAKE him do it when I know he has homework (which is another point of contention, he'll argue that he didn't understand that it was homework) but I can not follow him to school and MAKE him turn it in on time. So a LOT of his homework is late, and graded down. He got A's for tests in math, but F's on the homework, so it was solidly a C. He's taking a 7th grade math class this term on top of his regular math class and he's getting a B in it, but a D in the regular stuff.
It could be argued that the 6th grade stuff doesn't challenge him enough, but I'm not giving him that thought to have another argument about it.
His lateness. He either comes in late to class, or he forgets the material he needs and has to get it, earning him a tardy. He got detention this week for it. Also, an invitation to Friday school to catch up on homework since he can't get it turned in. He's had detention 3 times this year.
He seems to be stuck in this weird middle ground. He WANTS to be a grown up, but he can't help himself from acting like a 9 year old sometimes.
I am at my wit's end. It's not that I can't handle this, cause I can handle a lot of things, but I don't know how to make it better. We've tried punishment, and at one point thought he might spend the rest of the year grounded...and I've tried positive reinforcement..though since he hasn't made improvements yet, he really hasn't got anywhere with that method.
He's also changing physically. This year has seen a shoot up in height...pants that were bought at the beginning of the school year (only 3 months ago) are suddenly too small. At his check up, they said he was 5ft 2in. I'm only 5ft 6in. He'll be taller than me before he's 13. I also think he's getting a bit of a mustache....I don't even want to know what else is going on. He takes showers for an hour or more and he's very happy to have his bedroom door closed at night (when we used to have to leave the door open and the hall light on). I don't even want to think what he's doing in the shower. I can guess but much like your parents having sex, it's just too weird for me to think about much.
I saw someone on the bus the other day tickling their kid and the kid was giggling and I longed for a happy interaction with my child. There are some, but they are fleeting. And it's not even moodiness yet, though I suppose that's coming next.
The Dr. spent about 5 minutes in the room with us when she said..he's argumentative huh?
Yeah, that's one word for it. I like impossible, damned difficult, fucking irritating....all those fit too.
And yet, sometimes...sometimes he's just adorable and I hope that he's always so nice and considerate. His 3 year old sister irritates the crap out of him, but he was so nice to his baby sister, calling her little one and checking on her after they got out of the car. Patience is not a virtue he possesses much of, but then neither do I. It's easier to love babies, I guess.
And with a slight nudge from me, he willingly shared a bit of his birthday money with his friend so that they could both buy a new video game.
Of course, then he gets lippy and full of attitude with me and refuses to accept no for an answer and I lose the good feelings.
Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. I could say I only have 6 more years to go, but I know better. He'll be my "baby" long after he has his own babies.
If I can just get through the teenage years...and probably I should thank my lucky stars that I don't have a girl. The moodiness would be worse, I'm sure.
The boy is full of arguments lately. Arguments and excuses...there is NOTHING I hate more than excuses. Just own up to what you did.
He got Cs and Ds last term. My child whose almost always been at the top of his class, my child who I've always heard, "oh, he's SO smart" at conferences...my child who I want to do better.
The teachers still think he's bright and indeed he is a quick thinker or else I wouldn't have such arguments with him.
The problems?
Turning in his homework. I MAKE him do it when I know he has homework (which is another point of contention, he'll argue that he didn't understand that it was homework) but I can not follow him to school and MAKE him turn it in on time. So a LOT of his homework is late, and graded down. He got A's for tests in math, but F's on the homework, so it was solidly a C. He's taking a 7th grade math class this term on top of his regular math class and he's getting a B in it, but a D in the regular stuff.
It could be argued that the 6th grade stuff doesn't challenge him enough, but I'm not giving him that thought to have another argument about it.
His lateness. He either comes in late to class, or he forgets the material he needs and has to get it, earning him a tardy. He got detention this week for it. Also, an invitation to Friday school to catch up on homework since he can't get it turned in. He's had detention 3 times this year.
He seems to be stuck in this weird middle ground. He WANTS to be a grown up, but he can't help himself from acting like a 9 year old sometimes.
I am at my wit's end. It's not that I can't handle this, cause I can handle a lot of things, but I don't know how to make it better. We've tried punishment, and at one point thought he might spend the rest of the year grounded...and I've tried positive reinforcement..though since he hasn't made improvements yet, he really hasn't got anywhere with that method.
He's also changing physically. This year has seen a shoot up in height...pants that were bought at the beginning of the school year (only 3 months ago) are suddenly too small. At his check up, they said he was 5ft 2in. I'm only 5ft 6in. He'll be taller than me before he's 13. I also think he's getting a bit of a mustache....I don't even want to know what else is going on. He takes showers for an hour or more and he's very happy to have his bedroom door closed at night (when we used to have to leave the door open and the hall light on). I don't even want to think what he's doing in the shower. I can guess but much like your parents having sex, it's just too weird for me to think about much.
I saw someone on the bus the other day tickling their kid and the kid was giggling and I longed for a happy interaction with my child. There are some, but they are fleeting. And it's not even moodiness yet, though I suppose that's coming next.
The Dr. spent about 5 minutes in the room with us when she said..he's argumentative huh?
Yeah, that's one word for it. I like impossible, damned difficult, fucking irritating....all those fit too.
And yet, sometimes...sometimes he's just adorable and I hope that he's always so nice and considerate. His 3 year old sister irritates the crap out of him, but he was so nice to his baby sister, calling her little one and checking on her after they got out of the car. Patience is not a virtue he possesses much of, but then neither do I. It's easier to love babies, I guess.
And with a slight nudge from me, he willingly shared a bit of his birthday money with his friend so that they could both buy a new video game.
Of course, then he gets lippy and full of attitude with me and refuses to accept no for an answer and I lose the good feelings.
Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. I could say I only have 6 more years to go, but I know better. He'll be my "baby" long after he has his own babies.
If I can just get through the teenage years...and probably I should thank my lucky stars that I don't have a girl. The moodiness would be worse, I'm sure.
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So then we had to be all nice to him and he even decided he had to eat the parsley decoration as penance.
He seems fine now, but I felt bad when he was that close to crying. This is crap.