Perhaps the boys aren’t the only ones with negative baggage about school.

Well.  If you were following the comments to my post about frustrating days last week, you’ll see some very wise words from Stu.  To get the whole thing, read the comments and also his article which I really appreciate.   Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Stu!

Now, when I first read his “the problem is the problem” post, I said “Yup I know that.  No problem.  I’m all over it. Like white on rice.”  But upon further reflection I realized that I am communicating exactly that to the older boys: that they are the problem.  So.  Major revamp for me on what I say and how I present things.

When we were away from school this summer, the boys and I got to be pretty close.  Sure, I drove them crazy dragging them to the sawmill over a dozen times to get mulch (note to self: remember to get 3 more loads before snow flies), but we had a lot of fun together as well.  After school started that got a lot harder.

I like to think that we made good progress at the end of last week and over the weekend.   Had a good moment with TechnoBoy on Saturday where I told him that he’ll be a beautiful teenager, just like he’s a beautiful nine year old now.  We also watched a family movie tonight that the boys really enjoyed.  And oh!  We had their friends over Friday evening, and watched a movie that night as well.  I’m planning to get lots of snuggles and hugs in, and the boys did say that they’d like to get stickers on a chart when they do well on their assignments.  We’ll print out the chart of their choosing tomorrow.

Earnest Parenting: help for frustrated parents.