For all of our efforts early on with the boy and homework, they’ve paid off in the respect that he’s diligent about getting his homework done. We rarely, if ever, have to remind him to work on it and he typically has it done well ahead of the required completion date. This is likely more to do with the Wife’s side of the family, as I was more of a last-minute kind-a-guy growing up. But, it’s difference I have no qualms about.
One might expect an “All’s well that end’s well” sort of finish here. Unfortunately, we fall a little short of the mark there. More recently, it’s become apparent that the boy has actually created a competition with several other students in his class to be the first to turn in completed homework. I pretty sure this isn’t a formalized sort of competition; rather, it exists in the boy’s mind.
His emphasis on being first has revealed a tendency towards sloppy work completion. Writing is loaded with punctuation, grammatical and spelling errors. Simple math mistakes are made. In some cases, it’s apparent he didn’t take the time to understand what certain reading comprehension questions were asking.
I suppose all of this might be more tolerable if he accepted our criticisms of his homework and simply made the corrections. But it’s not that simple. First, he has to express his frustration at having so many mistakes pointed out to him. Then, he has to feel sorry for himself because “everything he does is wrong.” If we’re lucky, he fixes things and moves on. If not, we get an extended dose of drama of and he starts to get snippy with the Wife or I. Things don’t end well for him at that point.
So the Wife and I have started trying to retrain his brain about homework. As stated, we don’t mind his desire to be first but we’re trying to teach him to take the time to get things right the first time. As I stated to him at one point “Being first and wrong is worse than being last and right.” (Puts me right up there with Confucius I’d say.) We’ve also pointed out all the extra work he creates for himself when he has to redo so much of it.
Also troubling are the continued fits he throws at the Wife or I when we commit the grave sin of pointing out his mistakes, also known as helping him. If I had a nickel for every time we’ve talked about that tendency, well, I wouldn’t need any nickels.
All part and parcel of growing up I suppose. I’ve long since given up on the notion that raising a kid, or two, is a smooth glide from the hospital to their first job. Anymore, I expect the hiccups to manifest themselves, although it does occasionally surprise where those hiccups crop up. This is his first year with real homework. I’m sure things will improve from here.