And the F became...

...a B-. I know I owe an explanation for the teaser from April 29, I just never got around to writing it, until now.

I am blessed with two intelligent kids. This isn't motherly pride, both David and Mackenzie have been blessed with some amazing talents. However, maybe to offset those talents, there are some less than wonderful abilities that they also have.

David doesn't move at more than one mph. He expends no extra energy or effort, no more than necessary. A fifteen minute chore can easily become a two hour ordeal, complete with bathroom breaks and liquid refreshments to sustain him. Motivating him proves to be difficult because I haven't found the thing to get his butt in gear -- I've tried removing the video game systems, the computer, TV time, playing with friends in the neighborhood, grounding him altogether, cleaning his room when he's at his dad's and not giving him his stuff back (it goes up on eBay, so I can't give it back), and on and on. He's not malicious or sneaky, he just doesn't really care. And since he's only here half the time, I know I can cave although I try not to.

He reads at 9th grade level. He has great retention and understanding. He reads 45-60 minutes every night. Every night. But he chose not to write down what he's been reading in his reading log. So, in four weeks of the last quarter of the school year, he was sporting a 32% in reading.

Now while I don't expect straight A's, I do expect an effort. I laid down the law. After verifying that it was possible, I told him I expected nothing less than an A on his report card. Anything less would result in the loss of Y Summer Camp and the two sports day camps we had talked about for this summer. And I didn't want daily updates and I told him I wasn't going to check in with his teacher either. His responsibility, not mine.

I asked his dad to meet me when school was dismissed so we could both see the report card and resulting reading grade. That way, we could get it all out of the way at the same time. When David came around the corner, I could tell that he hadn't opened the report card.

He had brought just about everything home earlier in the week. He was carrying one folder, a pencil bag and his yearbook. Out of the folder, he produced his report card and handed it to me. The reading grade was toward the top of the page, neon lights couldn't have it made it jump out at me more than it already did: B-.

David seemed genuinely confused. He said he knew the grade wasn't an A, but he was expecting a B+.

My head went into Mom processing mode -- no summer camp, no basketball or lacrosse camp. Overall, it was a great report card, all A's and B's. And while I felt bad for him, I knew what I had said and I had to stick to it, otherwise, my words would have zero effect on him, even less than they do now.

And then, he stuck a wrench into it all.

David begins to hand me his yearbook, and as I reach for it, he hands it to his dad instead. Then he says, " Hey Mom, I've got something else to show you." It looked like a certificate, which had me confused since the awards ceremony was earlier in the week. He had received a couple of awards, for band and choir, and recognition for being on the 5th Grade basketball team. But academic achievements were only recognized in the middle school at the ceremony. Not in the 5th grade.

I read aloud, "Presented to David Ybarra, for overall academic achievement in the 2005-2006 school year, this recognition of his standing on the High Honor Roll, made this day, June 2, 2006."

Still in Mom processing mode, my head begins to ache -- not just Honor Roll, High Honor Roll, above a 3.5 GPA, he managed to achieve that with all the extracurricular stuff, band, choir, Cub Scouts, basketball, lacrosse, oh sure, he's only in fifth grade, it can't count that much, right?, after all, he's not trying to get into Harvard in two years, I need him to see that this is a big deal, that not just the school is recognizing him for his work, but I think it's a big deal, too, but how big do I go?, do I rule it enough to overrule my earlier edict? -- oh my head.

Larry pulled me aside and asked if I was going to make my original request stick. I told him I was going to have to think abou it. His scheduled summer camp is still over a month away; I told him I would think about it while we were on vacation and I would let him know when we get back.

David doesn't know I'm rethinking my original decision. I'll have a week to kick it around while I'm on the beach!