So your middle school sons have gone off to their rooms to get started on homework. Both indicated they know what to do and how. While loading the dishwasher, you mentally pat yourself on the back for the smooth transition from dinner to homework without griping or grumbling. These last two kids are the easiest yet. After the dishwasher is loaded, you decide to poke your head into the boys' rooms to ask how things are going, and to tell them how mature they are becoming. "How smoothly things are going." you sigh after leaving the eigth grader's room. A couple of raps on the door to the younger son's room and you are greeted with a small gasp and a set of great big blue eyes with platinum blonde tepees for eyebrows. You immediately know that something is up. GUILTY might as well be written in Sharpie across his forehead. "So, son, what do you have behind that math book?" He just wasn't fast enough to fully hide the video game he had been playing. He'd been caught red-handed. From previous experience as an educator and mom of five, you know that the consequence should be meaningful and immediate for maximum effect. The issue of trust is one that is highly treasured in your house but so is privacy. The appropriate tools were retrieved and handed to the sixth grader. He removed his bedroom door and leaned it against the wall where it stood for five days. After it went back up, it had to stay open while homework was being done for another couple of days. That son has never forgotten that incident and he was never again caught playing video games instead of doing his homework. He made it through high school with the bedroom door in place. He's in college now and it's up to him to get his work done. You can only hope that the lesson he learned about trust will be one that he remembers for a long time to come as trust colors all future relationships. That was a pretty hefty lesson to learn at homework time. |
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