My Kid is a Lying Sack of you-know-what



Kid 2 is flunking three subjects right now. He has a 57 in Social Studies, a 47 in Language Arts and a 55 in French. He also has a new desktop computer. It's a "gaming rig", at least that's what they tell me. I say it's a server but Dad says it's a "workstation". It has at least three processors and three TB of memory, with a huge HD screen, a keyboard with its own LED screen and a mouse that has lights that appear like lava when you move it.

The CPU weighs about 50 lbs and is the size of a server. I'm pretty sure he could run our city of 14,000 with it. At least it's not water-cooled.

Whatever you call it, it is a giant distraction for the boy. The screen resolution of the games he plays is astounding. Leaves on trees move in the wind or as soldiers pass and water looks real. And he is immersed the minute he slaps those headphones on. I fear he's addicted but his Dad says 'no, he's not'. What he bases this on I have no idea because of course he doesn't live with the kid.

Did I mention he is flunking three subjects? Now to the "lying sack of shit" part: last night he told me that in two of his classes he is unable to write down his homework assignments because the smartboard display with the assignments is erased too soon. In the other class, the teacher allegedly gives the assignments verbally. According to my LSOS kid, none of the three teachers uses his/her Fusion pages to list the assigments online.

So what did I do? I sent emails to two of the teachers reporting his excuses and asking what could be done... Oh boy. The French teacher very nicely told me that she does indeed list the assignments online and the Social Studies teacher said "I'm sorry to say this but M is lying." I thought this was brave of her in this town of screaming Mommies who keep that umbilical chord tied tight. She went on to say that there are all these people trying to help him but he doesn't try to help himself. Bingo. I plan to make him ride in the trunk of the car when I pick him up today.

I should have learned long ago. When Kid 1 was three she had two preschool teachers--one she loved and one she didn't like at all. One day she came home and happily told us that the disliked teacher had taken a new job and was leaving. Did either one of us question her veracity? Of course not. The next time we saw this teacher, I said "Congratulations on your new job! Where are you going?" To which she replied, scowling "Huh? I'm not leaving and haven't taken another job". Whoops. Kid 1 was just hoping. It didn't take the teacher long to figure out what had happened. I'll bet their relationship didn't improve.

I guess the moral is "Your kids will make you look like an ass if you believe everything they tell you."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Basketball Twenty Years Later

I played three on three basketball yesterday morning. I think I last played about 20 years ago. The good news is that I can see the floor better, meaning I can anticipate and react faster. Mentally that is. Physically I am a bit of a wreck. I can't really run because of my back so instead I try to skittle as fast as I can from one basket to the other. I can't jump higher than about six inches but that may be my utter lack of conditioning. As for shooting--I had no muscle memory of even how to shoot. I had four points but only because I flung the ball upward while I stood under the basket. Today I woke up and the only thing that isn't sore are my hips. I had a blast and my surgeon reassured me this morning that unless I run two marathons a month or do something similarly bizarre, my hips will be fine. Basketball, volleyball, biking--it's all okay. After we played b-ball there was a holiday party hosted by the amazing woman who makes all the weekly arrangements for soccer
Read more

A Sunny Day in March With My Cast

It's sunny and cold today. The snow is shrinking quickly, though not quite fast enough. I am on my second week in my walking cast. Tomorrow may be the day I am finally liberated from any cast at all and "get" to progress to wearing just a brace. A brace with sneakers, but still not a cast. If you've ever had a cast you know the day-to-day indignities, the insecurity, the balance issues, the importance of not tripping others and not being tripped and the balance issues. Yes, I said 'balance issues' twice. The first two weeks or so I fell on average twice a day. Some days I fell four times. My son would hear me topple and yell "Are you all right? Are you all right?!!" and rush to my side. The worst fall I took was on the carpeted floor in the living room. I managed to break a few Xmas ornaments with a crutch and smacked my head hard on the hardwood floor. I fell twice on the highly polished hard wood kitchen floor at my little six-year-old charge'
Read more

Launch Time Count Down

My star child turns 18 at the end of the month. She is finished with high school and she starts an internship on Monday. Seniors are required to do an internship 20 hours a week until graduation on June 20. A design company called "Project Gravitas", they make custom dresses for women who want to be taken seriously in the workplace. That's the "Gravitas" part. The lead designer is an FIT alum so she had a head start. Well, actually she didn't need a head start because this is the first time they've had an intern. She is very excited. They let her "help" the last time she was there and apparently she'll be doing the stuff she is interested in. Figuring out a creative-office wardrobe for a 17-year-old is turning out to be rather difficult. Banana Republic is "dumpy" as is J.Crew for the most part. Vince and Theory are great but their prices are not so great even on Poshmark . Shorts, not skirts, probably not dresses. No Bermuda sh
Read more