4th Grade Procrastination

One month ago, Heathen #1 was assigned a school project. The topic was to be "past, present, and future" of whatever they chose. He chose cars - no problem. Simply enough. He spent an afternoon outside with the camera and the Assistant Zookeeper taking pictures of the 2002 Dodge Caravan and the 1973 Fiat Spider that we own. And I saw lots of drawings of what a "future" car would look like - no problem.

Here are/were the problems:

Problem #1:

What I never saw was a project outline from the teacher or any written directions of any kind - so I assumed that it was a project that they were working on in school.

Problem #2:

By the time I thought to ask when the project would be finished, the project was due in one week. (At this point, I'm still assuming this project is being done in school.)

Problem #3:

Tristan says that the project is due Friday (which happens to be today). He says all he has to finish is to make his poster. The poster board, at this point, has made multiple trips back and forth to school on the bus, has been crumpled by Heathen #3, and has also been torn near one corner. And he started to just staple pictures onto it. This is what he was going to turn in (on left). Can you see the condition of this poster board?

Problem #4:

This is the first such project that Heathen #1 has been assigned. And since I know myself to be an over-controlling perfectionist when it comes to schoolwork of any type, I was doing my best to ignore the condition of the project taking place at my dining room table. I was doing pretty well when the Assistant Zookeeper got a glance of it and declared it unacceptable - much to my relief because that meant that I wasn't being crazy, in this one instance.

Problem #5:

We have no extra poster board in the house to use to start over. As Head Zookeeper, zoo supplies are in my job description. I headed for the local grocery store for poster board.

God BLESS Giant Eagle! Not only did I find poster board, but I was also able to get a glue stick, markers, two car magazines, and a small package of car stickers all in one place.

I returned to the Zoo with my supplies in tow - feeling quite proud of myself that I was resourceful enough to have thought of the car magazines and stickers while on the supply run. Then Assistant Zookeeper and I found the next problem.

Problem #6:

THIS WAS A PROJECT THEY WERE TO BE WORKING ON AT HOME. HEATHEN #1 HAD DONE NO RESEARCH AT ALL. HE HAD TO WRITE THREE PARAGRAPHS ABOUT CARS (one each: past, present, and future) AND HE HAD NO INFORMATION. HE HAD NOT DONE ANY RESEARCH.

I should mention that at this point it is now 8pm on Thursday night. This poster is due at 9am on Friday morning. And I'm still struggling between my perfectionist urges concerning school work and my promise to myself that I will not be one of those moms that does the project for her child.

Here's the timeline for the rest of the night.

8pm: Assistant Zookeeper put Heathens #2 and #3 into the bathtub together while I worked at the dining room table with Heathen #1. After they were in the tub, Assistant Zookeeper joined us at the table to lend his automotive expertise. Heathens #2 and #3 worked on soaking the bathroom carpet.

So we planned out the poster by drawing a sketch of it on plain paper. Tristan got the information he needed and he drafted the three paragraphs on scrap paper. I checked them for spelling and grammar, and then he rewrote them neatly (after an argument where I threatened to make him start completely over). I even photographed the proof that he did his own work! The sketch of his planned poster is on the left, the paragraph drafts are on the right.

8:30pm: Heathen #3 is upstairs crying in the bathtub that he has soap in his eyes while Heathen #2 is yelling that he didn't put soap in his brother's eyes. Assistant Zookeeper and I look at each other and he asks if he should go check on them. After a minute, Heathen #3 quite crying, Heathen #2 quite yelling, and we all got back to work. Assistant Zookeeper, Heathen #1 and I all went back to the poster project. Heathens #2 and #3 went back to attempting to drown each other and the bathroom carpet.

9pm: After taking two cold, wet Heathens out of the bathtub and returning them to their cage - I mean, bedroom - Assistant Zookeeper wished me good luck and left for work. (There are times I wished I was the one that worked night shift.) Heathen #1 and I continued work on the poster.

We finally got around to putting the actual poster together - God bless whomever invented glue sticks. I smeared glue on the backs of things and he smashed everything onto the poster board - paragraphs, pictures, et. al.

10pm: The night before the project was due, Heathen #1 had completed a poster that was acceptable for submission. It was a major improvement over his first half-attempt. He even admitted that it was more fun with me helping. :) I think he knew my nerves were unraveling at that point. I took a picture of the finished product so that Assistant Zookeeper could see it.

At 10pm, Heathen #1 headed for bed and so did I. I thought the project was complete and I was quite proud of myself. I hadn't taken over the project or done the work for him. I had managed to control my irritation with his procrastination.

Friday Morning - "D" day, 7pm: This morning, when my alarm sounded, I turned it off and flipped on the television to the news. School was cancelled for the day due to an ice storm. Go figure.