Homework – just another thing to do
My son is in kindergarten this year. It’s my first time doing homework from a parent’s perspective. It’s not a lot of work. It’s not hard to do. Carter loves doing it. Yet I find myself getting stressed every week at the last minute because we didn’t get it done. Mind you, I was a high achiever in school and I HATED procrastinating. There is so much to manage as a mother. It’s hard for me to juggle it all and I kept seeing homework as one more thing I had to keep track of. Last night, that changed.
From a task to time together
Last week my son came home full of excitement. He was chosen as the class VIP for the week! He had a bag full of construction paper, glue, markers and instructions to create a collection of his favorite things to be displayed on a board in the classroom. We kept talking about getting it done, but it wasn’t until the morning it was due that we tried to throw things together. The printer wasn’t working and we ran out of time. I felt like I had failed him, deflating his excitement over something that was important to him and I didn’t prioritize it. After that moment, I made a commitment to make this fun for him. It would be a day late but we would have fun creating it. Last night we went though our pictures to find his favorite things, went to CVS to print them, cut, glued, and wrote out captions.
Not just another late assignment
When I saw this completed project it hit me. I am always encouraging clients to share their stories. This is Carter’s! These are the things that mean the most to him – friends, family, dinosaurs, watching his brother and sister come into this world. I find just as much joy in flipping through this simple homework assignment than big, beautiful albums. I can’t promise I will always do homework on time from here on out, but I can take a moment to look through this kindergartener’s eyes and see that the simple joys are in the love that surrounds us every day.
Carter’s Story
