Available at 
Tweet
That's me. A certified A-grade bitch. Let's lay out the scene for you:
Ryan is in a class at school called Science Olympiad. Up until this last year, it was an after school club that kids could participate in and go to science competitions. Now, it is a class that kids can take as one of their electives. Anyway, so a few months ago they had regional competition, and Ryan pretty much carried his team. His teacher is scatterbrained, unorganized, and a mess. For regionals, for example, I didn't know what time to pick him up from competition until he called me to pick him up. I didn't know what time he had to be there until the day before. He didn't get the materials to build an intricate tower until the night before. He didn't get the schedule and know he was going to regionals until about three days (maybe I am remembering it generously) beforehand.
So, now Ryan's team has qualified for state in a few categories (anatomy, fossils, and tower building). Only Ryan and like 4 or 5 other kids (out of about 100) are going to state. We found out that state competitions were this weekend a few days ago. Sigh. Last night Ryan comes home with a crap ton of busywork to put together binders for the state competition. WTF have they been doing in class? Ryan happens to know almost ZERO about fossils and anatomy.
Anyway, so Chad and I take Alexia to her softball game last night while Ryan stays home to do his homework. Before we left, we specifically told Ryan not to play XBox while we were gone because if he had too much to do that he couldn't come with us to his sister's game, then he had too much to do to be paying it.
So, we come home and Ryan has been doing his homework. Good. No XBox has been played. We get Alexia to bed and Chad and I head to the bedroom and lock our door for a little while. After that, I go to sleep and Chad goes out to chart until the wee hours of the morning. Apparently, when he went out of our room, Ryan was playing XBox.
Ryan has a canned reponse about how he's been working soooo hard and just wanted a break. I get that. We all need study breaks, but he knows he is in trouble. Apparently, he still has hours left of work to be done. XBox is a hot button issue at this house. So, dh tells him to finish his game and then continue studying or go to bed. Ryan finishes his game and heads to bed.
Chad tells me the scenario in the morning. I ask him why he didn't take his XBox away and shut it off right then. Chad says, well, we told him not to play it while we were gone, and he came and tried to ask us, but our door was locked.
So, I exit the room and go to the XBox and take the game and the headset away. Ryan flips out and breaks down. He didn't play it while we were gone! He just needed a break. He tried to ask us but the door was locked. So, once again I am the heavy. I feel like he is old enough and smart enough to know that this little loop hole wasn't really the right thing, but hoped he would get away with it.
DH then accuses me of overreacting and taking away the XBox because Ryan is playing Call of Duty Black Ops (I hate the game - it's no secret). I accuse him of not being a parent and enforcing rules.
So, once again I come off as an overbearing bitch, and dh is the nice one. I feel like I can't win, and I hate that this is the dynamic, but I feel like someone has to enforce rules and consequences. Ugh. Am I being a bitch here, or did dh not step up the way he was supposed to?
Ryan is in a class at school called Science Olympiad. Up until this last year, it was an after school club that kids could participate in and go to science competitions. Now, it is a class that kids can take as one of their electives. Anyway, so a few months ago they had regional competition, and Ryan pretty much carried his team. His teacher is scatterbrained, unorganized, and a mess. For regionals, for example, I didn't know what time to pick him up from competition until he called me to pick him up. I didn't know what time he had to be there until the day before. He didn't get the materials to build an intricate tower until the night before. He didn't get the schedule and know he was going to regionals until about three days (maybe I am remembering it generously) beforehand.
So, now Ryan's team has qualified for state in a few categories (anatomy, fossils, and tower building). Only Ryan and like 4 or 5 other kids (out of about 100) are going to state. We found out that state competitions were this weekend a few days ago. Sigh. Last night Ryan comes home with a crap ton of busywork to put together binders for the state competition. WTF have they been doing in class? Ryan happens to know almost ZERO about fossils and anatomy.
Anyway, so Chad and I take Alexia to her softball game last night while Ryan stays home to do his homework. Before we left, we specifically told Ryan not to play XBox while we were gone because if he had too much to do that he couldn't come with us to his sister's game, then he had too much to do to be paying it.
So, we come home and Ryan has been doing his homework. Good. No XBox has been played. We get Alexia to bed and Chad and I head to the bedroom and lock our door for a little while. After that, I go to sleep and Chad goes out to chart until the wee hours of the morning. Apparently, when he went out of our room, Ryan was playing XBox.
Ryan has a canned reponse about how he's been working soooo hard and just wanted a break. I get that. We all need study breaks, but he knows he is in trouble. Apparently, he still has hours left of work to be done. XBox is a hot button issue at this house. So, dh tells him to finish his game and then continue studying or go to bed. Ryan finishes his game and heads to bed.
Chad tells me the scenario in the morning. I ask him why he didn't take his XBox away and shut it off right then. Chad says, well, we told him not to play it while we were gone, and he came and tried to ask us, but our door was locked.
So, I exit the room and go to the XBox and take the game and the headset away. Ryan flips out and breaks down. He didn't play it while we were gone! He just needed a break. He tried to ask us but the door was locked. So, once again I am the heavy. I feel like he is old enough and smart enough to know that this little loop hole wasn't really the right thing, but hoped he would get away with it.
DH then accuses me of overreacting and taking away the XBox because Ryan is playing Call of Duty Black Ops (I hate the game - it's no secret). I accuse him of not being a parent and enforcing rules.
So, once again I come off as an overbearing bitch, and dh is the nice one. I feel like I can't win, and I hate that this is the dynamic, but I feel like someone has to enforce rules and consequences. Ugh. Am I being a bitch here, or did dh not step up the way he was supposed to?
), with others it takes a very very long time. As they are hitting high school kids really need to feel that they are heard. I'm not saying he isn't but kids seem to have very different perceptions of reality and they sometimes need to be reminded that their parents want the best for them.
JUST KIDDING!
Comment