I am the parent of two teachers. I hear all their rants about issues with students. One of the biggest is students not doing their work until the eleventh hour. I also hear this as a therapist that regularly sees teenagers. Now we are at the end of the school in most areas and soon to be so in all areas of this country.
The rite of passage for summer vacation seems to relate to “Johnny”, who has not done most or any of his work this year. What I hear parents saying…what can “Johnny” do now, to pass.
When I was a kid we had a book of Aesop’s Fables. I loved reading those fables. As I remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare is that the hare felt very confident that he could win the race so he frittered away his time being distracted and finding other things to do. The tortoise just set the goal and no matter what the outcome was to be he just stayed the course. Low and behold, as the finish line loomed near the tortoise was in the lead and try as he may the hare could not make up the distance to beat the tortoise. The hare lost the race and forever after remembered that “slow and steady wins the race.”
We are seeing the finish line today in school. Has your child been the hare or the tortoise? Of course we don’t want our children to fail and not be promoted to the next grade, especially if they “can do the work”. I wonder what message we give them when we tell them that acting like the hare is acceptable in this family. So therefore, you help them by guiding them in structuring their time to complete tasks and helping them set priorities and maintain balance. Finally, you need to make sure you also model those behaviors in how you manage your own time. Good luck.
Sherri
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