Good & The Bad

I don't sugar coat very much about parenting on here. I'll give you the good and the bad.  The successes and the failures.  I was talking to a friend this morning about Tyler and thought, "I  should really share that with the blog!"

We've been going round and around about responsibility and self motivation in this house.  I won't always be around to remind him to "Brush your teeth! Put on deodorant." And I know he's still just 10, going on 11 but I like to see progress year by year.

Last weekend his cub scout pack was attending church together. I reminded him on Saturday morning to wash his uniform. That night I told him to iron it the night before and identify all of the pieces he'd need for his uniform.  I didn't go back and check b/c I just assumed on Sunday morning when I was ironing my own clothes that I'd have to go behind him and iron his uniform b/c no way he'd get it right.. Right?!

By the time I was ironing my clothes, I called him out of his room to bring me his uniform. He opened the door and was already dressed.. And his uniform was starched down and crisp! The creases were just as I always preach about AND the sleeves on the uniform also had a crease..

I kept smiling and telling him "You did a great job ironing that uniform, you really did."  I mentioned it to him a few times that day b/c i was still amazed.

We've had a talk about his chores and my expectations. How many Thursdays am I going to have to remind him that he should take the trash out to the street for Friday's pickup?  But my last conversation about chores involved me saying, "Please just do what you KNOW you need to do w/out being told!"

I've noticed he's been working hard on that.  Yesterday he picked out what he was wearing to church and ironed it neatly.  And last night I saw him ironing his clothes for school today.  I know it's something as simple as ironing, but last year there was lots of Sunday nights he spent doing his clothes over and over b/c he wouldn't follow my directions.  And there were lots of tears and lots of anger from me.  And now, he's good at it!

I'm going to cross my fingers that the same will be said about his dish washing performance lol.  A girl can dream right?

This morning he brought his notebook for me to sign and I was making a bottle at the time. He was reading a correspondence that the Principal had sent to all of the 5th grade parents. It was talking about all of the students being tested for 6th Grade Honors Math.  It also listed the ways kids could be placed in honors math.  It listed about 5 different ways. And I was listening as he was reading it to me and thinking about which things he met on the list that would qualify him to take honors math in 6th grade.  When he finished reading it to me he told me that he met 2 of the requirements already and he just needed to do well on the test they'd be taking tomorrow.

That also made me proud. He was taking initiative and an interest in his own progress and i didn't have to do it for him! That also lets me know that he's starting to really GET IT..

We'll see what happens with the Math test but I'm proud of him already!