Eye on the ball

The school's baseball season doesn't resume until next month. These pictures I'd snapped last year, when the three guys were having a bit of fun, just before one of the games the boys' team -- made up of almost every boy from Jon's class -- played against the other schools. I finally got round to putting them together for this layout, just the other night. One of the many things I would like to do, but lack the time and energy for.

Now, the pictures on their own, do not tell as complete a story, as when they are grouped together. The same grouping I'd used, for a page in the calendar that went to our loved ones for Christmas (below)...
A trick that worked for me for most of the pages in that calendar -- to pack in as many of our boys' happy faces as possible, as a way of telling our loved ones they are thought of all throughout the year!

And while it was with really basic photoshop skills I'd done up the pages in the calendar, it's also with some simple scrapbooking ideas I'd relied on for this new layout. As a final touch, I added the sticker of the huge baseball (that cost just $1 for two big stickers and two small ones, from Walmart), to hit home the connection in the pictures.

The same message -- to keep our eye on the ball -- I've been trying to impress on Jon, and serves also as a reminder to myself to stay focused on the task at hand, every time we see the layout! Once I was done with it, that night while the boys were deep in slumber, I'd gone and put it right away in a photoframe (bought a long time ago, though, to tell myself not to procrastinate this little project any further), and placed it on the wall next to Jon's bed. Where he couldn't possibly miss it. Eye on the ball, eye on the ball!

Yet, it's still an arduous task to get Jon to show some responsibility and more interest in his schoolwork. Poke, prod, cajole, bribe -- all the "soft approach" tricks a parent could have up his or her sleeve, we've tried, and let me just say, it is a battle of wits, a game I don't play so well, because more often than not, I find myself at my wits' end!

I don't think our moms or dads would have found it funny, if we made paper planes out of our book report or Chinese poem. The same kitchen timer we are using to help Jon break up his homework time into small chunks, he uses to set a limit for how fast I should have dinner served! But it's not always as hilarious as this, and not nice either, when the husband or I lose my cool because we "can't take it anymore"!


So, back out has come the rewards chart, and we've sat down to talk with Jon about some ground rules, and set a few immediate goals. Including whether or not we were going to sign him up for baseball.

But poke, prod, cajole, bribe, we continue to do, and are still doing, because Jon for how nonchalant, oblivious he can be, if you leave him alone with his books, he's just not going to touch them. Is it that bad? You ask. It can be, so much so, I feel like... *pulling out my hair*... *gnashing my teeth*... *bumping my head on the ceiling*... er, you get the picture!

On bribing, though, I really hate to have to go that route. For to be reward-oriented is not what I like to see my children become, not that the "gimmes" aren't already there. So, as far as I can, and especially if it's something as basic and straightforward as homework -- that Jon should by now, show more responsibility towards, I prefer to keep it to little things, like TV or computer time, or even just a favourite snack.

Now Jon is smart enough to know, too, that some things, like baseball being his most favourite sports, we would not want to deny him of. So, he's also pushing our buttons, and seeing how far he can stretch our limits! Which makes it all the more important for us parents, to remember we have to stay focused on the task, too, and mean what we say.

Eventually, we did turn in the registration form when Jon chalked up just enough balls on his rewards chart on that last day, before a late cost would be added to the fees. No, it's not free, none of the ECAs are, but I did warn Jon we would rather forfeit the fees if he doesn't make any effort to keep up with his daily schoolwork, than let him play and play all the time. Am I being the mean mommy, like when Bookworm raised the question here recently?

Jon must want to work, and work harder, and I hope it's just a matter of time when he will mature some and not think it's only the barest minimum we should do, or whatever we can "get away with". And you know, as the mommy, I mustn't forget to also pray and pray!

No, it's not easy to be a parent. Eye on the ball now!