When I got home from work yesterday, I sat TRC down to talk to him about his report card. We went over the whole thing together, focusing on all the great work that he’s been doing. There was a ton of positive stuff on there, and I wanted to make sure he knew how proud I was of him, and how I respected all the work he’s been doing. We talked about things he liked in school and things he didn’t, and after all the positive talk, we discussed where he could improve and why it was important. I went forward with my plan to have a bit of extra work each night for him to do–whether it’s his homework or some sheets from some workbooks–but I dialed down the time a bit so that it wouldn’t be too much for him. Shooting for around 20 minutes or so. I also told him that if he starts paying better attention in school and staying on task more, then we’d be able to do away with the extra work, too.
I just have to say how proud I am of TRC and how he handled the discussion. He’s really a great kid–very willing to do what we ask him to and trust us as parents. I’d like to think that some of that comes from Denisa and me involving him in family decisions and giving him responsibilities, but I think a large part of it comes from him just being a really good kid. I can’t take credit for that. So often I worry about what I can do to help TRC stay on track and not fall into any pitfalls growing up, but conversations like the one I had with him last night remind me that I should have more faith in him. He’s smart, and he wants to do what’s right–not because I want him to, but because he does. What more can a dad want from his son?
Anyway, we’ll do the workbook plan for the next while, and then we’ll reassess how it’s working. He actually enjoys doing workbook pages, and the ones I’ve picked for him aren’t really boring (too much), so I don’t think it’ll be too big of a deal. We’ll see.
Thanks once again for all your comments and support. It was all appreciated.
I’m a huge workbook mom in the summer. It seems to be a time that I can REALLY focus on the areas where they’re having problems. The after school time is a MESS around here anymore. I can hardly keep my mind little loan extra stuff. Good luck, I hope it works. Let me know if you find any workbooks you love!
Thanks for the supportive comments, Hil-ree. Much appreciated. Right now, we’ve been having Tomas color, since that’s the thing he seems to think takes him the longest. (Seriously–it’ll take him an hour to do a page. We gotta work on that.)