This girl!
I am so proud of her.
She studied over the past three weeks for her school geography bee – there were a few rough moments where she was not happy with me pushing her to study, but she did it anyway. In the end, I believe she tried really hard.
She had left this weekend to go to Grandma Ionno’s on a sour note. I had told her that she should take her geography book with her to study. She sighed at me and barked in an exasperated tone “how much do I have to study?” I explained to her that she needed to study to the point where she felt that she had tried her hardest. I didn’t know when that point would be reached but I knew she should put some time in since the bee was Monday. She rolled her eyes and turned to get in the car.
I was sad when she left. I questioned how strict I should be about studying. Should I demand she study for 2 hours a night? Or should I give her the freedom to study as she feels necessary? I felt like I had taken the middle road and required her to study at certain times over the three weeks but also given her the option to study or do something else (which usually ended up being “something else”).
When she arrived home from Grandma Ionno’s on Sunday, the first thing she said to me was “Guess how much I studied, Mom?!”
I asked her how much and she exclaimed “Two and a half hours!”
I was heartened to see that she had taken time away from playing with her cousin to study.
On Monday, I think I was more sick to my stomach about the bee than was she. All my nerves were on high alert. She was a cool cookie about the bee from the day she found out she was in it. Her nerves did get shaken a bit the night before and the morning of but I kept reiterating how Jon and I were proud of her no matter what.
“You studied hard and you will give it your all and that is a win for us no matter the outcome.”
When I walked in the room Monday afternoon, she sat in the middle of the long table between two fifth grade boys. She was stoic. She gave Jon and I a quick smile but then was all business. The moderator asked all ten kids (2 girls and eight boys) individual questions and then a group one where each of them had to write the answer on a white board like Jeopardy. Hilarious.
Ri got all of the answers correct! She and four others (3 fifth grade boys and 1 fourth grade boy) got them all correct so they got to move into the final round. The final round consisted of seven questions that Jon and I could not even answer (“which Mediterranean country produces the most cotton?”). One of the boys got lucky and answered one of the questions correctly so he became the finalist. Ri was gracious and smiled at him. Then she leaned over and consoled the boy next to her who was crying. She possesses such a warm soul.
Her teacher congratulated her on how well she did. She smiled and said thanks. Then she walked out the door with us, looked at a box of canned goods, and immediately started gabbing about the 4th grade can food drive. I loved how she already moved on to a new subject and didn’t wallow in despair over not winning the bee. She gave it her best shot and was on to new things. Yep, she continues to teach this grown-up many a life lesson.
Tag: contest
Dreaming of first
Mario is a competitor. He wants to win. Always has. His grade school, Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) is hosting a Yearbook contest. Kids from kindergarten through third grade are able to draw a picture and enter it into a contest to try to win the prize – having their picture grace the front cover of the 2014-15 yearbook.
Now, if this was the extent of the prize, he would likely have blown off the contest. But I believe you also win $25 (I told him this without verifying so $25 may be coming out of my pocket). Any contest where money is the prize automatically sucks Mario in.
He sat at the table and thought about what to draw. He wanted silence. He looked up Bobcat images on the computer (the school mascot). He began to draw. Frustration set in. Then muffled yells. Then tears. He gets so upset with himself when he doesn’t do something exactly as he sees it being done. He’s gotten a lot better at calming himself down and I find if I just talk in a soft voice to him, he starts to mellow. I had to do this a lot last night. He went to bed with half of the drawing done. I told him I was proud of him for trying his best. He told me he wanted to win the contest. I rubbed his head and told him to have sweet dreams.
I got up early this morning and slowly walked down the hall towards the steps to go for a run.
“Mom?”
“Yeah, dude-man. What’s up?”
“Kiki is really good at drawing. I think she’s gonna win the contest.”
Seriously? He’s thinking about this when he first gets up? A sign of perseverance and determination or obsession with winning?! I told him that all he could do was give his all and just let things fall as they may.
When I got home tonight, he finished his drawing.
”
Not without some tears and screams. At one point, I was helping Ri with her multiplication exercise and I heard a muffled cry. I walked in the kitchen and he showed me where he drew with pen on his paper. He had tried to draw a bobcat and he did not like it.
“I can’t believe I used pen!”
“It’s ok, we can use white-out.” A glimmer of hope came over his face.
“I used it all”, shouted Maria from the other room. Mario plopped his head into his hands.
“We will buy some after we vote, dude-man. Why don’t you practice drawing the bobcat on another sheet and then you can feel comfortable drawing it on your paper.”
He drew an amazing bobcat on a separate sheet of paper. Then I had a great idea, which I usually never have when it comes to art. We cut out his bobcat and taped it over the one he messed up so that it almost looked 3-D. He loved it, and smiled as he stared at the finished product.
A win no matter what. Now we have to talk about winning … and possibly losing – gracefully. That could be a little tougher than the bobcat art.
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"MOM!" 