excuses of a poet

Poetry assignment requires the child write 10 peoms. This is classwork done over a period of time. By the end of the quarter, my 5th grader submitted 4 peoms. Teacher is disappointed and asks why this happened, to which he just shrugs. So, the teacher sends me an email and I ask my son why he did not respond to the teacher.
He just shrugs. By then I am frustrated also trying to delve into the root of the problem.
I then say to him "you should have some excuse.. you ran out of time or.. a writer's block..."
He: "yeah, I ran out of time, ok?"
Me:"Understood! if you gave me that excuse after doing 9 or 9.5 poems, great! not with just 4!"
He: Mmm. how about a "poet's block?" Will you accept that?
I gave up! go figure!

copyright infringement indeed

I had to write this down before I forgot. My younger son, a 5th grader, is an avid reader, but, when it comes to his writing skills, there is plenty of room for improvement. It is not bad, but it takes him a long time to write neatly. And teacher from school would like him to work on his writing due to a recent incident with an incomplete poetry project.. (another story in itself).

Anyway, I decide it is high time I implement the handwriting task I've been threatening him with all these months. So, willy nilly, at 1015pm, we sit down after finding a fresh notebook. I said I'd dictate while folding the laundery -killing two birds in one so to speak. Then I had a brainwave, "let's do the book you're required to read, that way, we can kill three birds in one!!" I said. The said book was not to be found anywhere.. After about 15 minutes of searching, we finally find it and sit down again at 1040pm. He is super sleepy by then and I am sleepier still.. But, I am also determined.

I bring out the laundery and start dictation. After about 4 sentences, my younger son asks, "amma.. isn't it illegal to copy out of a copyrighted book? I think it is called copyright infringement or something." Nice Try Mister.. were I not so tired, I'd have laughed and hugged my son, not just barked out that "we are not trying to sell the first 4 lines of the book, please get on with it." or somthing to that effect.

I did give him a break though! He wrote down a couple more sentences and we both went to bed happy to have at least made the attempt.

Power of a label

Took a while, but it finally hit us. The pull of name brands. When my older son was little, his pediatrician told us to indulge him w/ name brand shoes since they would minimize his slight outward turn of his feet. He mentioned that that was one area where we'd want to give in to pressure. My thoughts then, what pressure.. ? my kids wear what I buy.. maybe girls were more demanding.

Well, finally my older son asked for a northface jacket.. I normally buy their clothes at target or kohls. So, I thought I'd take a look at nf. The jacket he wanted was so ordinary.. lands end had a better deal for a better jacket. Excitedly, I showed him the "winter sale".. But no, he wanted nf, even tho' we couldnt really find his size. The biggest kids jacket would be a tad bit too small on the wrist. "You know, I need to be able to stand up to other kids with their nice clothes etc" "I can't be the worst dressed in the entire class" (all this when newspapers are full of articles about how teachers are funding some of the kids' weekend meals.. and I can personally attest to the tripling of prices of groceries in our area!)

Anyways, I buckled in after a couple months of negotiating.. I wanted to order from an online vendor.. But no, apparently these online vendors sold jackets that were fake.. the proof was that the logo was only on the front, not front and back!! the only place to go was to nf.com.. (more $$$) "now you know why this other site is offering it for a discounted price!"

I stood my ground, promising to return a single faced logo jacket. When it came, my son tried it on -once.. it was too short on the wrist as we predicted. And it had two logos!! "Aw.. I can't wear that!".. alright.. now I have to do an RMA to return the stupid jacket!

when little brother (smarty pants) pipes in "you should've known it was fake when it said "Northface" on both sides" Shouldn't it have said "Southface on one side and Northface on the other?"...

oh well there are some light moments to parenting after all.. how else can a parent come out of this experience still loving their children!