When You Have A Kid Who Procrastinates

So my daughter had a project due for science. She didn't let me know until a week after she got the assignment. Suddenly she was like, "Oh, I have a project due," and I panicked and thought she meant it was due the next day. She's done that before.

Luckily she added, "I have another week to get it done."

Oh. Phew.

Basically they had to talk about Earth's Layers, something I vaguely remember doing in grade school.

"So when do you plan on starting?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"You know," is all she replied.

You know? YOU KNOW? What does that mean? I was about to ask more questions but she's in middle school now. It's on her to complete her work.

I went out and got her a poster board. And that poster board sat in the room for days. The cats were more interested.

I did say, "Hey, isn't your project due in like four days?" and Natalie went, "Yeah, I have four days though, so..." and then she went back to watching videos.

Gosh, being a parent is FUN, it really is.

Eventually, she did start it. Slowly.

After the letters were put on, she was like, "Well, that's it for today!" and I asked if she wanted to finish and she went, "But I still have more time."

Okay. Right.

And honestly, I am a bit of a procrastinator too. So I couldn't be a hypocrite. Still. The cats kept paying more attention to her work.

But I found when I didn't nag, she did work more on the project. I mean, she got distracted easily, but she did finish.

AN ENTIRE DAY BEFORE IT WAS DUE!

I was thrilled. And yes, she did it on her own. You can tell when parents do the project. They think you can't, but come on.


"Don't lose your project on the bus," I warned Natalie. She has lost many things on the bus.


Anyway, on the day the project was due, the teacher sent pictures on the Remind app saying she was loving all the projects. And you could tell when a parent had done it.

I'm sorry, but some of them were 3D and elaborately painted.


Natalie said they got to walk around and view the projects.

"Someone made a cake with the layers," she said.

Did a kid make that? I don't know. She said some looked fancy. She swears one music had MUSIC to accompany it. Somehow.


All I know is Natalie does her own work. And guess what?

Yup, she got an 100.


So I learned some lessons: my kid will eventually get her work done.


And there are still parents doing projects in middle school.