I’d flopped on the lower bunk bed, intending to play Lego with the kids for the half hour before bed, and told the kids I had been mistaken- it wasn’t a three-day weekend, and school would be in session tomorrow. Jeffrey looked up, panicked, “MOM! I have a report due, and I thought I had tomorrow off to do it!”
“What report?”
Holding Lego pieces in his hands, still looking panicky, “Remember that poster board I brought home a few weeks ago…?”
OH geeez…so there’s a giant report on England. A report covering language, culture, technology, architecture, food and holidays of the mighty, wonderful mother country of England, and I find out about it A HALF HOUR BEFORE BED THE NIGHT BEFORE ITS DUE? Yep. My kid is sweating bullets, we crash-crammed a decent outline (thanks, internet) and I crash-crammed him on HOW to write an outline as we did it. How does a kid get to 7th grade and not know how to write an outline?
So this is one of those times I cannot (and will not, actually) bail him out. He’s going to have to face his teacher himself, tell him he totally dropped the ball, and the report will be submitted late. The best grade Jeffrey can hope for now is a C. And he’d just gotten a progress report with all A’s and B’s. It’s hard to watch him crash and burn. Sometimes being a parent sucks. This is just a lesson they have to learn, right?
What’s the worst last-minute project your kid has ever sprung on you? This is a rite of passage…. Right??
Dandelion Mama 
Book reports with the book unread, science posters, and my all time favorite 4 dozen decorated cupcakes for a class party. I was informed about the cupcakes after 10 p.m. . My child stared at me slack jawed as I gave him a cookbook, pointed out my go-to recipe for cupcakes, and showed him the equipment and where the icers and decorations were. He was up until the early a.m. Baking, cooling and decorating cupcakes. He pointed out grumpily that the cupcakes weren’t decorated nearly as nice as mine. But he did learn that he could do it himself. He also learned the next time to give me plenty of advanced warning.
With six kids in school, been there done that. Multiple times! So fun. (Not) at least I’ve learned to always
Duh, that published before I finished. I’ve learned to always have a stash of poster board on hand.
Alex did that not too long ago…and was told that if she ever did that again she would take the zero on the assignment – no ifs, ands or buts. Right of passage!
I found out this morning from a neighbor that my child has a project due today that I had no idea about… Yeah that’s going to be a fun discussion when she gets home from school.
This just has me banging my head on my desk- he’s has a couple of WEEKS to be working on this! Are all 12 year old boys so daft? He thought he was going to be able to do in an evening? I’m ready to brain him!
Of course they are daft! That frontal lobe aka CEO/decisionmaker/consequenceunderstander doesn’t fully mature in males until around age 24. My 12 year old is the same way concerning organizational skills. He is dealing with dyslexia, disgraphia, and audioprocessing disorder so his organizational skills are really a challenge. Since I am juggling his learning disabilities and my daughter’s cognitive disabilities, it is hard for me to make sure he is organized and planning. It happens. I feel like I shouldn’t have to be on top of it all.the.time. but there it is. My son has been learning all sorts of life lessons this year. I’m sure yours will, too.
My son was heading overseas to go to a foreign university, we were packing to make a 3000 mile move. He and his girl decided to get married before we left so we wouldn’t have to come back for a wedding and she could go with him. That gave us 2 weeks to plan a small wedding with 60 guests. Thank heavens for dear RS sisters. They took it over and did everything. I kept packing and we moved 5 days after their wedding. Not quite the same as a report, but that is what came to my mind.
Been there, done that. There is nothing quite like banging your head against a wall trying to teach your kids how to be responsible and savvy and not to procrastinate…