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“About that assignment,” and I see my son shrink in the backseat. Which, considering he’s almost six feet tall is quite a feat. ” Did you ask your teacher about it?”
“I don’t like talking about it.” Yeah, neither do I really. But a fifty percent is not really normal for my straight A child, so here we are.
Ok, I’ll move off topic for moment. I ask about his day, friends, other subjects that are still on the table.
Being a mom, though, we circle back, “So, not really on the subject of your assignment.” But it is.
“I want you to know that I get it. I also don’t like talking about uncomfortable issues.” I get that it happens, move on already…
“Here’s the thing…” I don’t even have to look in the rear view mirror to know he rolled his eyes.
“There will always be uncomfortable subjects. That’s life. So, right now, I don’t care about your F. But I do care how we talk about your F. So let’s start over and find out how the conversation could happen.”
And here’s the thing. My son is super smart. He’s 13, so yeah, he does silly things and his room looks like there is a constant tornado swirling in there, but he’s intelligent. So, he and I discussed his paper.
We talked about what could have gone wrong, what he could have done better, why these things sometimes happen, and what he might be able to do differently in the future. There were a lot of hypotheticals. Believe it or not, there was no resolution on the current F.
However, my son is still a straight A student, so I can’t really get upset that every once in a while a 13 year old boy messes up on an assignment. What? Yeah, I know, it happens.
What I can do, however, is help him learn how to resolve the issues that life throws at him. I can help him become a better communicator. That is much needed in our world. I can help him be strong and courageous through life’s highs and lows. I can help him be a God fearing man, a loving human, a man that people want to be around. I already forgot about that F (I didn’t.)