"warning Will Robinson, we are about to become lost in space!"

Fri, 08/27/2010 - 23:00 | Frazzled Parenting

So I am sitting here trying to get some work done after clearing out the house for back to school shopping. I am just now realizing that yes it is a Saturday and here I am working after promising myself I wouldn’t work on weekends; well not as many anyway. Maybe I’ll try in December to stop working on weekends.

Anyway; I am hearing myself repeat, “no, no … no” to the 5 month old puppy who has caught her reflection and is sure that the other puppy is after her ball. No matter how many times I tell her no, and assure her that it is in fact she that is looking back at her, puppy still continues to growl. Meanwhile the other dog, not so much a puppy these days shoots her a look that clearly signals “stupid dog.”
 
Don’t worry; I’ll connect the dots as to why I am talking about the dogs instead of kids.
 
This morning started off this way with S (remember, not using his full name), you know the 13 year old that already knows everything there is to know, or could ever be possible to know. Sorry, I digress. He got up fine, completed a couple of his tasks and then slowly started to let things drift. It didn’t take very long before he too was growling, and I too was back to “no, no … no”. Like the puppy, assuring him that it wasn’t worth growling over, but that didn’t much matter. He was just going to growl anyway.
 
In our house that triggers the Bat Single to say … “warning Will Robinson, we are about to become lost in space!” Yes, we use all the old shows for comic relief around here. So our not so new, but effective “keep-our-brain-and-feet-on-this-planet” trick is exercise. He seems to be getting a lot of it this summer. Each morning we now start off with no less than 100 jumping jacks. Put your eyes back in your head. Kids with Executive Functioning issues and “brain-off-this-planet” issues need hard impact exercise throughout their day. It gets the brain going, stimulates the frontal thinking area for memory, etc, etc. BTW, this means don’t skip P.E. in school and do your best to have it scheduled in the middle of the day; it will make a big improvement.
 
But no, 100 wasn’t enough this morning it took three sets of 100 (not at the same time) until finally (sort of) his brain was working in the correct direction.
 
With that done! It was two hours of cleaning closets out to figure out what cloths can make it for school, what school supplies we already had and did the damn kid have any long pants and shoes that still fit; not to mention underwear without wholes!?! You’d think he would open his mouth and say something about that wouldn’t you.
 
After he eat (shoved it in his mouth) his lunch as if wolves were eyeing him in order to take the food, he had to be reminded to clean his braces. That took three trips. He apparently had swallowed the squeaky thing from the dog’s toy, which is why he makes that high pitched sound these days. In the end I simply said, without looking up.
 
“You know, that took you 30 minutes but the orthodontist said it should take you 5 – 8 minutes. Maybe later tonight when you need to do it all again you’ll be easier on yourself, they are not my braces to have to clean.”
 
The simple reply of “sure” and that was the end.
 
So what did I learn today? Don’t ask him to do it, just start the timer so he can hear how much time is left to brush his teeth. Yes I forget to use the timer. Don’t take responsibly for his problem to solve. Lastly, I don’t think the puppy will ever get used to seeing her reflection, so this might be a long term thing.
 
What did he learn? Well. Hm. As he is walking in the door while I am typing this and I hear, “OMG knock it off and pick up the bag. Now move out of the walk way so others can also walk by.” Actually I think what he learned was using the timer helps him stay on task. Squeaky sounds belong in the dogs’ toy, not coming out of his mouth. Oh, and get out of the way!
 
All and all, not such a bad day so far; but it isn’t over yet. I am choosing not to ask how back to school shopping went.