Go to Sleep!!!

intparent
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:42:00 +0000

A few things we have done successfully:

Insist that the “second lunch” be fairly healthy. We keep turkey sandwich fixings in the fridge and the kind of apples she likes. So when (not “if”) D2 is very hungry when she comes in the door and dinner is more than 20 minutes away, she can make those things. She often has to skip lunch due to choir lessons, writing club, programming club, finishing tests, etc. So I am somewhat sympathetic. Usually dinner leftovers are no big deal, they will get eaten. As long as she joins me for dinner and eats some of what was cooked, I am okay with it.

When she gets too far behind in chores, I lay down an ultimatum. All clothes put away/bathroom cleaned/dishes done/or whatever before she can go out the door to wherever… even school. Or can take the car to wherever, etc. I don’t think it is nagging… I don’t yell, and I try to not wait until the last minute to spring the reminder and consequence on her. But I stick to it.

We have some limits on caffeine. Trying to keep her from getting too hooked… she can have fancy coffee drinks two mornings a week. In no situation is she to have any caffeine after 1:00 pm. Lights out when I go to bed (usually around 11), and she puts her laptop in the hall to charge so it isn’t in her room to tempt her.

Because she can’t always juggle everything (and has no study halls this year), we have instituted a “one EC a day” rule for her. She can do ONE after school or evening activity a day Mon-Thursday. Quiz Bowl practice, Robotics, fencing, food bank volunteer – all take a couple of hours. So she can do ONE on a given day, but not more except in super special circumstances. That way she has time to study and get to bed at a decent hour. That is working pretty well. Fridays and weekends are pretty unlimited for ECs/friends/etc.

Regarding the multitasking, I leave her alone unless she has a significant grade problem. Really can’t complain about that. Although if she was telling me she had to stay up until midnight to finish homework and was using social network sites during that time, I would probably be irked.