So, the family meeting to follow up on DNSN week was an interesting affair. Lea immediately launched into her jermiads about how much she’d hated the whole thing. All. Of. It. We tried to emphasize that she’d shown a remarkable capacity to do stuff that she — and her parents — didn’t think she’d be able to pull off, that she’d shown some real initiative in getting herself up and out of bed to have time to get everything done, etc. etc. But she was not buying. “I’m not good at anything, I can’t do it.” More tellingly, she was eager to point out that she actually missed the nagging from Dad to keep things on track; she insists she needs the reminders. I’m realizing that this is a legitimate concern, but I think we can “outsource” it to a whiteboard or a checklist or something, so that she has the hints, but doesn’t necessarily require someone there to do the nagging. We’ll test and see…
Lucas was quiet thru the whole thing, mostly doing the classic pre-teen “whatever” shrug/eye-roll/grimace when we tried to argue that he, too, had taught us a lot about what he was capable of, and that it was helpful for us to get a sense of where things went if we stopped nagging and directing things. He’s too smart not to realize that this was really a thinly disguised way of saying, “yes, those marathon sessions you pulled in front of the big screen were quiet illuminating — you really could spend your entire life playing video games and eating popcorn, couldn’t you.” I think we did our very best *not* to come across like that, but since that was the main nag we’d had going on before DNSN week, I think he heard the words “this week is now behind us, and we’re moving on” more as “back to the usual nonsense.”
The hard part was explaining what was coming next. It’s still not quite clear to me what comes next. We obviously dont’ just go back to same ol’ same ol’, but we’re in dire need of some sort of roadmap… oh, wait: that’s what we’re supposed to do next. Vicky things of everything.
