The boy finishes his homework yesterday morning afternoon after a certain amount of, shall we say, boyishness? Calls his grandmother to say he’s free, please come pick him up to go play with the cousin.
A few minutes later: “Grandma says to pack a change of clothes in case I sleep over.”
Homeschool Mom alarms go off. Wait a minute — I’m finally being diligent, you are taking all day to do your work — and you think you’re going on a sleep over? And this is going to keep you on track for getting your work done the next day . . . how?
Ha. But I have a secret plan. “Okay, son. No problem. Do you know what a ‘security deposit’ is?”
— Conversation ensues. Assurances that you get your money back if the agreed-upon conditions are met.—
He’s skeptical, but relents. It’s either that or no cousin time. Still, the feet drag . . . hard to quite remember to go dig out the wallet and hand over $10 to She Who Cannot Be Trusted to Remember to Give it Back. (She who is somewhat untested on this point.)
I remember I still owe him for mowing the front lawn on Saturday. (Hence, trust issues — the HR dept. at this castle is notorious for late paychecks.) I fish out his $10 from my wallet, let him know that this is his pay, it’s going under Dad’s sword, and if his Thursday homework is completed by end of day Thursday, he’ll get it back. If not, it’s ours.
Before Grandma even arrives, there are already two grammar assignments in my inbox. Victory.
I feel like I’m living in one of those experimental labs at the economics department.
You need a lab coat ..with “Jen Fitz PhD SM” (SM = Super Mom)
hehe
Excellent! I’m glad it worked.
They hate it though. Minor glitch. I have to decide how evil I am. OTOH, both kids finished agreed-upon amount of work and got their money back. But think they don’t like the stress.