Wednesday, March 30, 2016

24 + 35= living room brawl

I wish you could see me. I'm exhausted. Flayed over my recliner. Sipping milk from one of the boys sippy cups. They left it in the floor and I was thirsty.  My brain literally hurts.
Who knew first grade homework would be such a horrid experience.
Common Core math is a beast in and of itself. The simplistic way of adding and subtracting has gotten all mucked up. I'm guessing each way needs it's day in the sun; not all humans think alike. But I am damn near 40 having to relearn basic math just so I can help my daughter with her homework.
That's not the worst part. The "horrid" part is probably just my daughter. It can't possibly be all 7 year olds. My daughter argues every fact that I tell her.
"Addison, your face is dirty, can you please go wash it?"
"No its not."
"Yes it is. I'm looking at you.
"No its not."
The same scenario applies to homework.
"Addison, youre supposed to write it like this."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are...read the instructions. See, right here"
At this point I start to lose my cool and start trying to reason with this small human who suddenly thinks she knows everything. Unfortunately, this reasoning usually ends with fire flying out of the top of my head as I throw her homework paper across the room. I really wish I were joking.
Her obstinance grows with every math problem. I'll tell her what to write and where to write it and she writes it sideways and nothing at all like what I said.  A 15 minute worksheet has now become nearly 2 hours of a battle of wills and ultimately brawn. I'm bigger..I win. If you can call it winning.
We seem to have to continue this process in its entirety before my daughter can come full circle and realize that I'm not an idiot..that I may be telling her the truth and she can  trust me.
But God help me if I don't want to kill her in the process. I pray that we will get past this stage quickly. Because if we don't...and this just keeps getting worse..the child will not live to see 13.
It's past time for bed. I think I'll add some Bailey's to this sippy cup. Goodnight.

No comments: