Good Morning! Or is it?

I am just coming in from taking my daughter to school. It is only 8:50 am and already I have had my intelligence insulted, my feelings hurt and I have watched my status as the "all knowing, super mom" hit what is sure to be a rapid decline!

My daughter waited until the last minute to complete her homework. She spent most of her weekend reading her AR book but chose to wait until this morning to complete the written portion of her assignment. Yes, I knew about it but I am trying to teach her that she needs to take responsibility for her homework seriously and that there are consequences if you don't. I want her to understand that when she is older her boss is not going to call and remind her 30 times that she needs to show up for work the next day. I am no longer going to "beg" this child to do her homework. If she doesn't do it, she will face the consequences. It seems to be working well, or so I thought.

I knew that we were in trouble,however, when Katie ran into the bathroom this morning, shrieking at the top of her voice that she could not find any prefix words in her book. She needed to list 5 of them. That was it. The entire assignment was to list 5 words from her book that were prefix words. How hard could it be? The book was 72 pages long.

So...I washed the shaving cream off of my hands and reached for the book. Ignoring Katies warning that if I dropped the book in the bath tub I was going to have to pay for it, I began scanning the pages. It suddenly occured to me that I had NO idea what words are prefix words! To me, a prefix is when I toss the ingredients for tomorrow's dinner in a pot tonight and put it in the refridgerator so that it is ready to be cooked the next morning.

Katie looked horrified when she had to explain it to me. She enunciated every word very slowly so that she could be assured that I was "getting" it. She provided me with examples and then sauntered off to finish her breakfast. I spent 20 minutes doing Katie's homework...okay, struggling to do second grade homework. I could NOT find any prefix words. I dreaded the fall out when I told her but I mustered up enough courage to get it over with. She took it in stride. I discovered why when I read what she had written. She simply wrote, "My mother and I could not find any prefixes. My mother said there are not any in this book."

I try to always see the bright side to every situation. As I sit here in fear and trembling waiting on "my" homework grade I am thankful that my daughter is bright. I am hopeful that she will eventually see that this is a prime example of why she shouldn't put her homework off until the last minute. Last but not least, I am sure that no matter what else life throws at me today, the worst part of the day is already over!