Slacking Off

Do you ever feel like you're slacking off? We got off to a great start this year, with set school hours and much accomplished. Then, I had my surgery to remove painful endometriosis, and by the time I came out of my percocet coma everything had gone to pot. In just 4 days, under the "care" of their father (who ignores them and believes strongly in TV as a babysitter) I had 3 kids who were suddenly refusing to do anything without a fight.

In my weakened state, I gave in to them and the start of schoolwork kept getting pushed farther and farther into the morning as they fought over computer games and commited much surly stomping of feet when told to turn the damn thing off.

I am decidedly not one of those parents who call themselves radical unschoolers. This group believes that asking anything of a child is coercion and to be avoided at all costs. But somehow we got to this state, mostly because I am too tired to fight with three kids and it's way easier to pretend to be all progressive and let the kids do what they want and find a way to fake educational value. I just can't make myself believe that this is the best way to raise kids in our society, where jobs and higher education do not run by those principles.

Sure, we had bursts of science experiments and read a few books, but that is not sufficient for my oldest, who is extremely bright and capable of more.

All that has happened in my house is that we have devolved into chaos, with no schedule and kids wandering about making a mess. This week, we have gone into crackdown mode. The kids actually seem relieved and I feel more in control. It is all my fault, not theirs. This entry is my atonement for lazy parenting for the last couple of months. Oh, please let me get back on track!