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One child's avoidance, productivity, disaster, meltdown and back to productivity again
Part of Riley's school work this semester included a wax museum project. Each sixth grade student was to pick a teacher-approved person of historical significance and put in a substantial amount of time researching their person. Then they wrote and memorized their facts so they could retell them in first person. They dressed up like their character and were to have a Living Wax Museum night at school. Each child would stand completely still until someone placed a quarter into their container. Then they would come to life and tell their story. It's a neat way to incorporate lots of different learning, have fun and donate money to Make a Wish.
The kids were given a generous amount of time to work on their project but, unfortunately for Riley, most of it was while I was stuck in Rapid City with my broken down van. I know he's 12 years old and should be able to handle getting it done himself. I've tried a number of different ways to help him, as have his teachers. He is very easily distracted and not a self-starter when it comes to homework. He can find millions of ways to avoid getting something done. The only thing that saves him is his beautiful personality and the fact that he's very smart so he can usually get things done really quickly once he puts his mind to it. Either that or he talks his way out of it. Anyway, nothing was done on his project while I was gone.
When I came back and realized how far behind he was, I made him sit down and work on it. He told me he picked an army guy, did his research and wrote a little piece about his person. Then he had to memorize what he had written. So he would read his little paper over and over to me and I would sign on the dotted line that he had done it. Eventually, he had it memorized. I had heard a million times about William F Cody. Riley and I could both tell you when he lived, died and what his proudest moment was.
Riley was excited to wear his camo gear, backpack, binoculars and a cool helmet we made with an old bike helmet and some duct tape. We spent a significant amount of time, in advance, making sure he was all ready for the night of the Wax Museum. Riley needed to be at the school by 6:30pm last Tuesday.
Pretty good army guy.....and look how happy he is!
This picture was taken about 15 minutes before we needed to leave for the school. The picture is blurry because I wanted a picture but I was also in a hurry to get everyone fed and into the van so we wouldn't be rushed and we'd make it to the school on time. I fully understand that my kids get super stressed when they're rushed. I wanted to keep the stress level to a minimum to give Riley the best chance of a successful evening. Let me tell you how that went for me :/
Remember, it's now 15 minutes before we need to be at the school. I'm sitting down at the computer to quickly post the picture of army guy Riley. As I'm doing that, Riley is talking. As are various other children. I'm tuning them out so I can finish what I'm doing. But as any mom will be able to do, even as I was tuning everything out, I could still pick out random words in the background and they always have the power to grab my attention instantly. You know, words like "fire", "bleeding", "poop", "etc". Key words that demand instant attention. Riley caught my attention when he was going on and on and on about his project and then somewhere in there I heard the words, "Buffalo Bill".
I slowly turned around and looked at him with an astonished look on my face.
"Riley. Are you supposed to be Buffalo Bill Cody tonight?"
He just looked at me with an amused look on his face and said, "Yep."
I still can't believe that I kept my cool but I think I was still in disbelief and denial.
"Riley, are you telling me that your character for the Wax Museum TONIGHT is supposed to be Wild Bill Cody?!?"
He just frowned and said, "That's what I've been telling you for the last month."
In case you haven't been keeping track, we now have 12 minutes before we need to leave for the school.
"Riley, why didn't you tell me that you were Buffalo Bill?"
Riley very emphatically told me, "I did!"
I told Riley that his modern day army guy costume looked nothing like Buffalo Bill Cody. He argued with me so I quickly used google image to bring up multiple pictures of Buffalo Bill Cody.
Do you see any similarities? Nope. I didn't either. And neither did Riley.
Which brought about a major meltdown, including crying and throwing things. And according to Riley, it was all my fault. He couldn't go. He didn't have the right costume. His teacher would hate him. He would fail. I should have told him he didn't have the right costume. Everyone would make fun of him, etc. etc. etc.
In his defense, he had repeatedly told me all about William F Cody, the army scout.
In my defense, he never once mentioned Buffalo Bill Cody and Riley obviously didn't do nearly enough research. Which I would've liked to point out to him but it wasn't the time or place. We were already in a full-fledged meltdown and we now had 8 minutes to get to the school. If I would have pointed out what he SHOULD have done, he just would have raged even more. It wouldn't have done either of us any good at that moment. I needed to get him calmed and figure out how to make the situation better. There's always time later for a teaching moment. The only teaching moment going on at this time would be how to remain calm in a crisis!
So I put on my super mom cape and ran around the house screaming like a crazy woman.
Just kidding ;) But it brings up a fun visual image, doesn't it?
I calmly told Riley that I would figure it out, even though I was totally stressed inside. I went into the Halloween stuff and found an old wig, which I cut up and duct taped to his face. I called my sister and had her run into the dollar store for an old fashioned cowboy hat. We came up with an old looking belt and I had Riley exchange his black military looking shoes for his cowboy boots. We weren't allowed to have a gun but we did add binoculars around his neck and a compass and we had Buffalo Bill. A mostly calm Buffalo Bill, I might add. With 2 minutes to spare!!!
One hour later.........
Crisis averted. Project completed. Teacher happy. Riley feeling good about his presentations.
This is why I've had to learn to roll with the punches. And trust me, I've taken a lot of punches :)
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