Thursday, January 26, 2012

Procrastination is a Killer

My son had five days to complete an assignment, and two other missing assignments. He came home on the last day asking to go outside for an hour. I told him no. He tried to convince me he could finish the work when he came in. I mentioned that if that statement was true, the work would already be done and we wouldn't be arguing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I happen to be the same way. An idea can overwhelm me. Not the actual work of it, but just the idea. If I get determined, decide I need this done with to have MY time back, I push through it and get on it right away no matter HOW difficult. Like TAXES with a POA, doing it on my own. Rather than just sitting and obsessing about all the things I didn't have or how difficult it would be to answer questions on my own, I marched right in there. Thinking about it was worse than it was. In fact, it was pretty easy. I try to do my best to live by example, show my kids the right way to do things. It doesn't matter how many times I preach it, showing it is what they actually learn from. For a child with LD like two of my teens, this is a very valuable asset. They work things up in their mind until they are quite scary to face, and it takes all you have as a parent to make sure you know what needs to be done and force them to face it. In no time at all my oldest will be out on their own, without me to tell them to get a project done for work, or even get up and out the door on time! I won't be there to make sure the alarm goes off, or that he has proper clothes washed for the days work. He has to do it on his own. At 16, he still doesn't have all this down, but he knows more than most kids his age. I told him honestly, homework IS your job...which shows future employers by your grades that you take the time to do the job and do it right. I don't want you to forget to pay bills, get in debt, and have to come home for me to fix it. I have to put you out there on two feet, on solid ground, so you need to take the extra effort to do some standing on your own. You want to be able to make your own choices? Start making the right ones right now, and the hard ones won't be so hard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He finished his work. Lets hope procrastination happens less often, that my 'mama speech' was more than just words. Maybe I should talk to the other boys too, and save some time and tension.............maybe later. Nah, just kidding!

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