My nine-year-old is coming up with more and more inventive ways of getting out of doing his homework. His favorite ploy is simply to forget to mention it until bedtime. We started making him stay up until it was done, so that strategy has outlived its usefulness. He has now learned the technique of spending hours in the bathroom. He heads off quietly, and pretty soon we realize it's been 30 minutes with no word from him.
I would never have thought of such a thing when I was growing up. I had such a terrible fear of authority that I just did what I was told. The sad thing is that, like me, school is pretty easy for my son. If he just came in off of his daydream ship and did the work, it would be done in no time and he could relax.
Ah, well, I suppose we all learn these lessons a bit too late to do us any good.
