Parental Guidance and a FREEBIE

Isn’t is GREAT having an extra day off? I mean is it just me or does anyone else feel as if  2 days just isn’t quite enough time to get the laundry washed, groceries bought and put away, house cleaned, help the kids with any projects due on Monday, AND spend quality time with the family? WOW! So I absolutely love it when we get an “extra” day off. That feels like a true weekend for me. You know what I mean? Thanks to the long weekend my husband and I decided to have date night and go see the movie Parental Guidance. In a nut shell, the movie is about the problems that occur when the grandparents, Artie (Billy Crystal) and Diane’s (Bette Midler), old school methods of tough rules, lots of love and old-fashioned games collide with the new parenting styles of the 21st century. If you have not seen the movie it is a MUST SEE. Bette Midler and Billy Crystal are HILARIOUS. What struck me about the movie was the truth about the differences between the way my generation was raised and how our kids are being raised today.  Now a days we have sports groups where everyone’s a winner and gets a trophy so that feelings aren’t hurt. Ok, the truth is that the first time I heard that I thought, “Wow what a good idea! Now my son’s feeling won’t get hurt.” However, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I began to feel that it was NOT going to help my child but  postpone their hurt for the future when he did not get a job he wanted, or was not chosen as class president. (Not that he’s thinking of running 🙂 The reality is that in LIFE you are NOT always going to WIN. You aren’t always going to be GREAT at everything. It’s just not REALITY… however, you CAN work on it and get better… and you CAN set goals you want to achieve and then work hard at attaining them. Isn’t that the lesson we want to teach our children and students?  I mean I’ve even had a few cases during awards ceremonies where parents have been upset at me for not “giving” their children an award even though the guidelines for the awards are established by the school with strict criteria. If there child does not meet those criteria’s I cannot simply CREATE an award for them so that their child’s feeling aren’t hurt. Instead I try explaining to the parents that it’s the perfect time to help their child set a goal for the new nine weeks. Isn’t that what life is all about? Having a desire, setting a goal, and working hard to attain it! I also don’t see anything wrong in telling a child NO! I see it as part of my job. Children can’t just do and say whatever they want. They need rules and consequences. However, the longer I teach the more I have encountered such scenarios where parents don’t want to say NO to their kids and accept their talking back, or even send me notes asking to excuse their child for not doing homework because they had baseball practice at night. Are you kidding? What message are they sending their kids? Sorry, I don’t mean to rant and rave and perhaps even sound like a crazy woman, but I guess seeing that movie brought up a lot of pent up feelings. So, thank you for listening, and if you haven’t seen it yet it’s a must. Okeedokee, moving on to the freebie! The freebie I’d like to share with you all today is the best method I have found to keeping track of homework. (If you’d like to download my No Homework, No Problem packet, simply click on any of the pictures to be taken to the link.) Basically, I keep an Incomplete Homework Binder with a log and these forms inside. Then whenever a student does not complete hw or has incomplete hw I simply log it in my binder, fill out the hw sheet pictured above, and send it home to be signed. The next day when my student returns the form and completed hw, I mark it in my binder and voila! I now have a record in case I want to give a hw grade or for when I meet with parents. I also have certificates I award to students that complete ALL of their homework on a regular basis.  … and I ALSO award them with a NO HOMEWORK PASS for 1 night of NO Homework. My students absolutely love getting these no homework passes, and I love handing it to those students that ALWAYS have their work completed. They deserve a night off! Enjoy the rest of your “extra day” off and remember to hug and love your kiddos, but also don’t be afraid to tell them NO… it’s not going to make them love you any less! Many blessings,