"Parenting Unplugged"
Summary: Successfully enforcing discipline is the hardest part of working with teenagers.
Note: I work with teenagers, and it's so hard to motivate them to do anything they don't feel like doing. This chapter is brought to you by procrastination—I should be writing lesson plans and grading spoken exams (for my aforementioned inactive adolescents).
Disclaimer: Harm, Mac, etc. are not mine, so don't sue me because I have an imagination and too much free time.
Written 26 April 2004
******
"I thought I asked you to clean your room." Harm was trying to be stricter in order to compensate for the fact that he'd been wrapped around Mattie's finger even before she'd moved in.
The teenager looked away from the computer screen to survey her bedroom. "It's not bad. You can still see most of the floor. And what's the point of making my bed if I'm just going to sleep in it again?"
She turned back to her computer with a dismissive shrug. Before she realized what was happening, Harm had grabbed the mouse from under her hand and unplugged it from the back of her computer.
"Hey!" she protested.
"You'll get it back when your room is clean," he met her glare with his own.
"Fine," she haughtily pushed herself out of her chair.
Her back turned, Harm let out a sigh of relief—he'd finally managed to hold his ground with her.
Summary: Successfully enforcing discipline is the hardest part of working with teenagers.
Note: I work with teenagers, and it's so hard to motivate them to do anything they don't feel like doing. This chapter is brought to you by procrastination—I should be writing lesson plans and grading spoken exams (for my aforementioned inactive adolescents).
Disclaimer: Harm, Mac, etc. are not mine, so don't sue me because I have an imagination and too much free time.
Written 26 April 2004
******
"I thought I asked you to clean your room." Harm was trying to be stricter in order to compensate for the fact that he'd been wrapped around Mattie's finger even before she'd moved in.
The teenager looked away from the computer screen to survey her bedroom. "It's not bad. You can still see most of the floor. And what's the point of making my bed if I'm just going to sleep in it again?"
She turned back to her computer with a dismissive shrug. Before she realized what was happening, Harm had grabbed the mouse from under her hand and unplugged it from the back of her computer.
"Hey!" she protested.
"You'll get it back when your room is clean," he met her glare with his own.
"Fine," she haughtily pushed herself out of her chair.
Her back turned, Harm let out a sigh of relief—he'd finally managed to hold his ground with her.