I hate the science fair
There. I said it. I HATE the science fair. When Jed was in first grade he swallowed a magnet. Long story short, it made a great, and easy, science fair project for which he won first place in the school, and then the district. That victory set up an expectation that we would do the science fair every year - and win.
Last year it was Tsunamis. I actually thought it was a great project and Jed learned a whole lot about Tsunamis. (In fact, he learned so much that he's traumatized every time he gets within 100 miles of a coastline, but that's a blog for a different day...) He and his dad did some experiments, things didn't exactly work smoothly and I ended up having to do emergency caulking at the last minute. Bob had to leave town before the poster board got started, so I stepped in to help with the posterboard. Which I typically don't mind. So we got it done, got it to school with experiment (mostly) in tact. Jed was happy (mostly) although he didn't win and didn't go to district. I felt like part of not winning was the fault of his parents, who didn't start early enough to really get the process ingrained and the pieces all together.
This year, it's sound waves. And it's Sunday night and the whole darn thing needs to be turned in on Tuesday and we have nada. Nada, that is, except for pieces of solder, a tuning fork, a crying 8 year old, and a pissed off wife. Jed and Bob seem to think the science fair is a dude thing, and I'm all cool with that. This year the plan was that when I was in Anchorage last weekend, they would do the experiments and get it all together. I figured I'd still have to help with the poster board, but I can handle that. Instead, for some reason, nothing really progressed on the science fair front. Yesterday I printed off a bunch of information on sound waves and made Jed read it all. I also found an experiment that used a tuning fork (that was something they had planned to include) and printed that off. Today I went to town to buy a battery and a poster board. Tonight about 6:30 work started on the science fair project that turned out to not be quite so simple after all.
So now, it seems, the plan is for the experiment and posterboard to be done tomorrow night. That's the night before its due, for any who are keeping track. All my years of railing at my older children about waiting 'til the last minute are coming to haunt me. Only this time, it's not the kid's fault; it's the parents' fault. We're teaching Jed bad habits, we're creating stress for everyone, and we'll do a crappy, half-assed job because that's what you get when you wait until the last minute. We've been bad parents on this one, and to be honest, I'm grumpy at my husband because this one was in his court.
I hate doing a half-assed job on things. I hate being mad at my husband. And I hate the science fair.
Last year it was Tsunamis. I actually thought it was a great project and Jed learned a whole lot about Tsunamis. (In fact, he learned so much that he's traumatized every time he gets within 100 miles of a coastline, but that's a blog for a different day...) He and his dad did some experiments, things didn't exactly work smoothly and I ended up having to do emergency caulking at the last minute. Bob had to leave town before the poster board got started, so I stepped in to help with the posterboard. Which I typically don't mind. So we got it done, got it to school with experiment (mostly) in tact. Jed was happy (mostly) although he didn't win and didn't go to district. I felt like part of not winning was the fault of his parents, who didn't start early enough to really get the process ingrained and the pieces all together.
This year, it's sound waves. And it's Sunday night and the whole darn thing needs to be turned in on Tuesday and we have nada. Nada, that is, except for pieces of solder, a tuning fork, a crying 8 year old, and a pissed off wife. Jed and Bob seem to think the science fair is a dude thing, and I'm all cool with that. This year the plan was that when I was in Anchorage last weekend, they would do the experiments and get it all together. I figured I'd still have to help with the poster board, but I can handle that. Instead, for some reason, nothing really progressed on the science fair front. Yesterday I printed off a bunch of information on sound waves and made Jed read it all. I also found an experiment that used a tuning fork (that was something they had planned to include) and printed that off. Today I went to town to buy a battery and a poster board. Tonight about 6:30 work started on the science fair project that turned out to not be quite so simple after all.
So now, it seems, the plan is for the experiment and posterboard to be done tomorrow night. That's the night before its due, for any who are keeping track. All my years of railing at my older children about waiting 'til the last minute are coming to haunt me. Only this time, it's not the kid's fault; it's the parents' fault. We're teaching Jed bad habits, we're creating stress for everyone, and we'll do a crappy, half-assed job because that's what you get when you wait until the last minute. We've been bad parents on this one, and to be honest, I'm grumpy at my husband because this one was in his court.
I hate doing a half-assed job on things. I hate being mad at my husband. And I hate the science fair.
Comments