time management struggles

I think my older son inherited the procrastination gene from us - big time. I mean, what are the chances that he'd escape it? Both his father and I are both carriers. ;)

Seriously though, it's been a rough start to the school year. He's not the world's most organized kid, and I've tried to stay on top of his workload by reading his agenda daily and helping him organize his workload by breaking it down into doable chunks each day... helping him learn what he needs to do to get things done.

It's challenging for me. To be patient. To model good time-management skills, especially when mine are shaky to begin with. To be hands-on, but not too much so. To be positive, even when he is being negative. To be mindful of the challenges he faces, but not to accept them as excuses for not even trying.

.....

* spring 2010

* fall 2010

I wish he had this kind of interest in the stuff that he NEEDS to do for school. :P

.....

I dropped by the school this morning to talk to his teacher. She is very good with him - she understands his challenges but isn't willing to let him off the hook for assignments and whatnot. She spoke to him, in front of me, about her expectations of him. We set out a plan, and hopefully, now that he knows that his teacher and I are both on the same page, he'll be able to accept my help without pushing back and shifting the blame.

*sigh*

Tell me I'm not the only one who's going through this kind of thing...

Comments

[katie squires]

You are doing a great job Barb :) Hang in :)

[daniellemarieclaire]

Yes you are doing a great job, Barb ! Not easy the job of a parent ! I can so relate to what you wrote ... Both DH and DS have trouble organizing themselves and I find myself helping them constantly. Sometimes it's very frustrating for me because I am totally the opposite : I love organisation and I have a good if not great time management. I find myself having to take deep breaths when I get frustrated in repeating the same things ... I keep remembering that I do not know how it is to be living in their skin, not having my organisation and time management skills. It's challenging at times for me to model staying p-a-t-i-e-n-t when I am frustrated ... Argh !!! It is also teaching me to cultivate patience and empathy and understanding to a higher level. We're not all made the same !

Keep up your excellent work, Barb ! You're such a great mom !

[Lee Currie]

Breathe. You're doing great. Let me assure you, even with a parent with pretty good time management skills and a raging a-type personality I know there are four kids who suffer from chronic procrastination. After all, why do it now when it can be done later? Ugh. (I blame it on their father!) Keep with it. Nothing easy is worth much!

[ChrisS]

Cripes I can't lay down rules for the darn cat, I would suck! Great job, I am constatnly amazed...

[daniellemarieclaire]

Another thing, Barb. Even though I recognize that DS (and DH) have difficulty in organizing themselves, it is not to be used as an excuse to let themselves off the hook and depend on others for their own responsabilities. I'm teaching DS to have a plan to better organize himself as it is his responsability to find strategies that works for him. Everyone has challenges and it's up to each person to figure out ways to improve themselves.

[Barbara]

You are definately not alone in this. There are a lot of neuro-typical kids that have difficulties with this, let alone throwing in some additional challenges.
I still have to help Matt daily with organization. Somedays I think he's getting it, and others not so much.

[Ashley]

Barb, you are a great mom and I look to you for inspiration for the future, seriously! It's sooo hard to be patient sometimes, I know because I feel like I'm about to run out of it sometimes with my students... It's still early in the school year and we're all adjusting. Hopefully he will pull out of it soon. By the way, his writing piece is soooo amazingly creative! I would be very impressed as his teacher. It's too bad his writing topics can't be more open-ended. Anyways, good luck and glad to hear in your more recent post that things are a bit better.

[Barb]

Ash, the writing was likely inspired by something he read in one of his silly books. But he always puts his own twist on it, even if it is inspired by another piece of literature. lol