True story: I sat down this morning to write about how B is a huge procrastinator, took one look at the screen and thought, "Eh. . . I'll do this later." And I wonder where she gets it from. . . (is it too pedantic for me to say "And I wonder from where she gets it?" Is it too pedantic for me to use the word pedantic? See, this is how my mind works. Back to today and my issue with procrastinating.)
So, now that I'm finished procrastinating. . . B is the biggest procrastinator I know and that's saying a lot! I really believe her philosophy is "Not now, but later!" because she appears to do everything that way. When she does her homework, she does sit down and gets right too it. She then picks herself up, grabs a book and sits down on the couch to read.
"B, is your homework finished?," I ask (we could have this conversation recorded and just play it every day, for as often as we have it).
"Yes," she responds without looking up.
"Is it put away?," I query, looking right at it on the table.
"No. I'll put it away later," she says, clearly annoyed that I'm distracting her. Will you pay me on Tuesday for a hamburger today? I should ask her that next time, though I'm sure that'll just earn me a blank stare.
"Fine!," she grunts, clearly annoyed that I'm making her tear herself away from whatever great American novel she's reading now. "I'll do it now!"
Stomp, stomp, stomp
Yes you will, you know why? Because homework isn't finished until it's put away. B is not the only Curly Girly with this issue (clearly).
I can't tell you how many times I threw out homework last year, not realizing it was work that still needed to be turned in, because it was left on the table.
You go to school, you leave work behind, it gets trashed. Not to sound like my mother, but "If it's important than put it away!" Gah! I hate when I have to pull out phrases I heard and hated from when I was a child.
B doesn't seem to realize that if she lived in the moment instead of thinking about doing it in the future, her room would be forever clean! How hard is it to put dirty clothes in the hamper? Evidentially, very, because none of the Curly Girly Trio seem to know how to use their hampers.
L is the worst at the messy room procrastination. Well, actually, no she's not. She's the worst at having to clean it up. She'll play and play and play and then come out of her room to see if she can watch TV or go on the computer or have a snack and every singe time I ask, "Did you clean up?"
"Doh!," she grunts. "It's too messy! I can't do it! I need help!"
"But, L," I lovingly point out. "You didn't need help making the mess. Go get it cleaned up."
"It's too hard!," she cries.
That's when the big guns come out.
"Ok then," I soothe, grabbing a trash bag. "Tell you what. Anything you don't want to put away, put in the trash bag and we'll give it to boys and girls who would love to have toys to put away."
"Ok," she concedes, with a small whine. "I'll go clean."
I'm not sure what's sadder. . . the fact that I have to use underprivileged children as a threat or the fact that my child would rather clean up her things than donate them.
Today, after B finished her homework, she put it away immediately! I almost fainted when I heard her say that she had to put it away before she could play. I asked her why the change and she said, "Well, I'm trying to break my bad habit. . . Plus, you told me that if I could not procrastinate for the rest of the week, you'd give me an extra dollar in my allowance." Money definitely talks. . . Too bad I'm going to go broke in the process.
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