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Mopey Little Man
"What I want," sulked The Teen after his mother cut his hair short, "is to get out of that school and get my [mohawk] back." His mother made it clear that his abysmal grades, due entirely to choosing not to do much of his assigned homework, have preempted his going to a barber for regular mohawk maintenance. She will spend the money on herself, instead.
I don't yet know if he will graduate with his eighth grade class next month. He turned in a (very, very late) science report rather than the required project, and his science teacher did not appreciate the lack of content/effort that went into it. I hope they do not pass him, if only to drive home the lesson that one cannot get far in life by not doing what is required. I'd rather see him repeat eighth grade there with this year's seventh graders--a humiliation he hopes to avoid--than get away with defiant laziness. He has the potential to grow into a belligerent man with no respect for authority, if this behavior is allowed to continue. As it is, he sulks home after school every day with A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E. oozing out of every pore of his body just because the world has failed to bow down and allow his continued laziness. My palms itch to go a-slappin' whenever I get near him, so I mostly keep my distance, wait, and see.
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Now playing: Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra - Stealin' Apples
http://foxytunes.com/artist/fletcher+henderson+and+his+orchestra/track/stealin+apples.
I don't yet know if he will graduate with his eighth grade class next month. He turned in a (very, very late) science report rather than the required project, and his science teacher did not appreciate the lack of content/effort that went into it. I hope they do not pass him, if only to drive home the lesson that one cannot get far in life by not doing what is required. I'd rather see him repeat eighth grade there with this year's seventh graders--a humiliation he hopes to avoid--than get away with defiant laziness. He has the potential to grow into a belligerent man with no respect for authority, if this behavior is allowed to continue. As it is, he sulks home after school every day with A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E. oozing out of every pore of his body just because the world has failed to bow down and allow his continued laziness. My palms itch to go a-slappin' whenever I get near him, so I mostly keep my distance, wait, and see.
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Now playing: Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra - Stealin' Apples
http://foxytunes.com/artist/fletcher+henderson+and+his+orchestra/track/stealin+apples.
no subject
If he's willing to lie about homework, do you think you and his teachers could set up a notebook system? Have him list his homework and ask each teacher to sign that he has everything, or to sign off if he really has nothing. That way, when you ask him about homework, he has to produce concrete evidence about what his assignments are, and you can check to make sure he's actually doing them. Then you have a better way to judge how much he is or is not doing. Of course, this does mean that you have to saddle him up every night, and I don't know to what extent you want to start letting him sink or swim on his own.
It is always deeply frustrating to have a talented child resist work and discipline in this way. You have my sympathies.