Monday, April 15, 2013

Conversations with a 12 year old

Josh may not love that I'm posting this, but it made me laugh so I can't help it. Sorry, Josh. You know I love you!

So as a mother I tend to be a bit of a lecturer. (And this surprises all of you because none of you have ever known me to be long winded. Of course.) I don't like to call myself a lecturer, I prefer to think of myself as my kids personal motivational speaker, lol. I've been known to go on for quite some time on multiple occasions on topics such as how they can accomplish their dreams through hard work and dedication. People pay good money to attend seminars by motivational speakers. I provide this service free to my children. You're welcome, kids. My children would probably not call me a motivational speaker. I have a feeling that to them I'm more like the teacher on the Peanuts cartoon. But I digress.

My motivational speeches often follow some sort of life lesson or event that my kids have learned and my speeches often include the phrase "now what can we learn from this?". My kids LOOOVE it when I say that. (No. They in fact, do not. But I'm convinced that someday they will look back on their successful lives and attribute their success to their wise mother who taught them so many life lessons in a series of motivational speeches.)

So a few nights ago Josh was complaining about an upcoming book report and how he had to read the book and then choose a project off a list of approved projects and none of the projects sounded like fun to him. I suggested that maybe he make an animated movie for his project. One of the projects listed was to film a short live action movie based on the book but he didn't want to do a live action movie because of the type of book he has to read.

So I suggested that he go talk to his teacher and ask if he could do an animation instead. He insisted that she would say no because it only listed a live action movie. I thought it was worth asking, the worst she could say was no. We had a discussion about that which turned into a motivational speech about how in life you shouldn't be afraid to speak up and ask for what you want. Maybe you'll get what you want and maybe you won't but it never hurts to ask. Josh didn't really like that speech. I have found that the closer he gets to being a teenager, the less he likes my speeches. Which means that I'd better get them all in before he turns 13 in May, right? :)

Fast forward to this afternoon. He still hadn't come up with an idea for his book report and in desperation finally asked his teacher if he could do an animated movie instead of a live action movie. He was very surprised that her answer was yes.

So he comes home from school and these are the first words out of his mouth, spoken really fast before I could get a word in:

"I talked to my teacher about my book report and she said that I could do an animation instead of a live action movie and what I have learned from this is that it's OK to ask for what you want because sometimes it works and you do get what you want and you were totally right."

I laughed and said "Wow, you REALLY did not want me to say I told you so, did you?" And he said "no, I did not."

Yes, his mother is wise. Slightly obnoxious and entirely too long winded, but wise.

You're welcome, kids.