Over the weekend I helped my daughter finish up her most recent school project. Having been a mom for a very long time, I’ve had my fair share of projects that required help. Oh, and trust me, I use the work “help” loosely. She’s just not able to effectively organize and put together a large project from start to finish, and that’s where I come in. She has her ideas and I have the planning, the struggle begins when she can’t envision the finished project, and there’s some sort of meltdown. For 20 years it’s always been the same, with every daughter. I’m just done with projects. I know I’m not the only parent who would prefer to never see another project, but I just don’t see that happening. Teachers love them, and I hope there’s some logic behind the home project, but from a parents point of view I think they like to torture us!
This state project had specific parameters and honestly, when I noted it needed to be in scrapbook form I got excited. Scrapbooking is right up my alley, for heaven’s sake, I’m a Creative Memories consultant, this will be easy. WRONG…I love to scrapbook pictures and family moments but a scrapbook, on a state…BOOORING! Worse yet, everything had to be hand drawn, no computer generated pictures were allowed in the book. It was agony, for both the daughter and myself. But we finished…thank goodness, and we did have some insights.
- Thank goodness I’m a Creative Memories consultant and we actually had scrapbook scrapbook supplies at the house. We would have been at the store many times!
- Thank goodness that I have cool scrapbook tools to use, they made it sooo much easier.
- Thank goodness that I scrapbook. At one point, the daughter said “boy mom, I don’t know what the other kids do if their moms don’t scrap” NO KIDDING!
- When you’re 11 and you’re sick, working on a project is torture! Poor think went through a box and a half of tissue.
Once we we are done,….I’m blessed. She can remember and memorize very quickly so learning the oral presentation is easy for her. I’m so thankful, that means less work for me!
She was absent for two days of school, as she’s still sick, so I ran the project to school today. It was due, and the teacher said “no late projects” and “no what if’s”. I think the “no what if’s” was meant to cover the “dog ate my report” type excuses, but just in case, and also to ease her mind, I dropped it off. Now we’re just waiting. Waiting for a grade and of course, waiting for the next dreaded project.