Give a kid a boost!
Since we’re talking about confessions (what? weren’t we?) I thought I’d toss another one on the pile, lest you think my family is perfect. Weird, but perfect. Because we’re totally not – perfect that is. Weird we most certainly are. ANYWAY.
When I was growing up, I was expected to get good grades, I was expected to shoulder the burden of A’s and B’s and be happy about it, dammit. For the most part, after I hit 9th grade and realized HOLY CRAP I’ve only got 4 years to make up for all the slacking off I’ve been doing the past 8 years, I put my nose to the grindstone, my pedal to the metal, and buckled down and finished with a 3.64 GPA. Yes, I know it’s not perfect. There was this little matter of a Science Fiction extra credit class that spent a whole semester on the book DUNE which I did and still do hate with a passion. 3 extra credit projects brought my final grade to a D so that I could graduate. Heh. Mom is still not happy about that, though my 3.99 GPA for my bachelor’s degree a few years back took away most of the sting. I think. Maybe.
My sister, on the other hand, didn’t take so well to school. They PAID her for all her A’s because she had to work so hard for them. Not that I didn’t work hard, but WHATEVER. She’s the baby, spoiled and everything. (that groan you just heard was my mother telling me to build a bridge and get over it. *L* Fortunately, I have been for years – but it makes for good blog fodder to pretend, right? Right!) Even so, I began to have a bit more sympathy when my kids started showing signs they were more like their dad and aunt then me when it came to buckling down and slogging through schoolwork.
All of my kids got a rough start reading, but once they were able to flip that understanding switch, there’s no way to get a book OUT of their hands. Of course, that doesn’t mean they remember to turn in their reading logs, which is why the grades are so low. Some things come easier to one kid then another – The Girl has an inate understanding for math and how it all works together, as well as how to write a paper with her eyes closed – while the boy would rather gouge his eyes out with a metal spork then tackle a language arts project, and sure he’s GOOD at Math, but doesn’t see the use in it at all. Foods class, however, he excels at. Go figure. The pup is champion for reading all the time, but forgetting her reading logs, while she struggles a bit with math and getting her mind to work fast enough for the math facts computer program she’s fallen behind on.
In short, they’re all typical kids, who struggle at times, and excel at others. This year the boy wanted to take matters into his own hands, take responsibility, so I’m not riding him as hard as I used too, only asking on occasion. Of course, if he fails his Junior Year, there will be hell to pay, but he understands that. The Girl has been doing extracurricular activities so has to keep her grades up, so she’s doing well. The pup is struggling a bit, but trying hard, which is really all I ask of her. We’re a normal family, with normal frustrations.
Some kids aren’t so lucky, and have even added pressures to face. Did you know that 4 out of every 10 teenagers will drop out of high school? That’s a very large number, and you know that even more have considered doing the exact same thing. My own son has – he simply doesn’t see the point. It’s a hard lesson to learn, that sometimes, we don’t ever see the point of something necessary in order to open doors in the future. He keeps slogging through though, as he knows that I care, AND I expect it. Despite what he says, he DOES care.
There are others that care, too. In fact, thanks to the lovely Lisa contacted me about her client The Ad Council, to let me know of their new campaign: BoostUp. BoostUp aims to encourage students to stick with school, to think about before dropping out. They have 11 kids in the campaign, and you can give them – or a kid you know – encouragement in several different ways. You know, give them a “Boost”! Even better, you can send them wake-up ringtones. (Ha! I don’t think my kids’ favorite ringtone would be very uplifting, for all the WAKEUP-ness it elicits. Hee.)
Right now, the BoostUp campaign is trying to get as many “Boosts” as possible to their kids, and others by adults who have been there, done that – as well as from encouraging friends and family. BoostUp.org includes the means to give the Boosts, the ringtones – and also a lot of information for parents and teenagers who are looking for information, signs to look for in your teens who may be considering dropping out, and things that you can do to help. The site is fun, colorful, and interactive of course. In fact, I’m on the way there right now to leave a Boost for all of their kids. Won’t you do the same?
