The boy has tests each week for math. Each week, the Wife or I try to work with him so that he’s ready for the tests. Emphasis on try. Now that he has free time, he’s somewhat selfish about it and would rather spend it playing than spend it going over math. Now, it’s not like we’re asking him to spend hours and hours on addition and subtraction. Rather, we’re just trying to help him polish off his skills. Some extra questions here, a few minutes there. That sort of thing.
Well, a couple of nights ago we had him take a practice version of the latest iteration of his math test. It’s a 4 minute test where he’s got a goal of answering 100 problems. The Wife set him up with a practice test and set a timer for him and off he went.
He grumbled and snarled the entire time. He didn’t want to be doing it. It was stupid. On and on and on. Finally, when it was done, he commented “I can’t wait for my sister to be in the 2nd grade so she’ll have to do this.”
Nice sentiment, huh?
Of course, the only problem with his train of thought is that the lass won’t hate it. She’ll love it. When she gets homework now in kindergarten, she comes home, sits down and starts doing it. When the boy made his obnoxious little comment, she turned to the Wife and said “Mom, I like school work.”
The boy continued to insist that things would be different once she was there. I’m pretty sure he’ll be wrong.
That seems to be the mindset of late. Everything is focused through himself. If he doesn’t like something, then no one will. If he thinks it’s stupid, then it obviously is. It’s most prevalent where his sister is concerned, which I expect to some extent.
More than anything, the Wife and I try to ignore his outbursts. Some of his statements are so ridiculous that I, try as I might, cannot hold back the urge to correct him. Even so, he just digs his heels in and plows forward with whatever he was thinking. On occasion, when he takes things too far(a little too belligerent or too smart a mouth- whatever), he ends up in the hotseat with some kind of discipline.
Somewhere along the way, he’ll come to terms with his myopia. Until then, all we can do is wait.