Middle Child has been assigned to give a talk in church. In front of the whole congregation. Remember how I've mentioned the LDS church has a lay ministry? It is imperative that people learn to get up in front of others without losing their stomach contents on a regular basis, so at 12 the kids start giving short talks in front of the whole congregation on Sundays. Middle Child has already done one before, but just one.
Several days before the talk I reminded him and he got to work on it right away. After about 15 minutes he asked if that was enough.
I looked over and saw about six lines on the page. "Um, no. I'm thinking you need about 1 1/2 pages before you have enough material."
He got back to work. I would occasionally glance over to see how it was coming. I recommended he get some books to help him come up with ideas. He just ignored me. He's done this before, I'm sure he thinks he doesn't really need my help. Then I looked over and noticed the spacing has increased from single to double. And then the font got a little larger. That left margin kept creeping to the right. He was on a mission and he got that talk done!
Next time I'll tell him it has to take three minutes, not 1 1/2 pages. One day I'll get this parenting thing right.
5 comments:
Your parenting is fine and I'm proud of you for keeping after him. How did middle child do?? Was he a mumbler or one who presents his talk in one fast sentence?
What a smile you put on my face! I love it!
You are a great mom, with a great husband, and 2 wonderful boys who will always test you to the limit. You already have embraced them with your love and they know it. Clayton already has embraced the spirit of a college student with the how many pages, font size, and so forth. I wish we could be there for the talk.
Funny...yep, Clayton is all set for college. You might use the "3 minute" rule with caution - hopefully he won't insert a 10-second pause between each word!
Hopefully he also won't speak so fast that he's done in 30 seconds and no one understood him. I remember how tough those talks could be, don't seem any easier these days with three kids attacking Jay and running up and down the pew while I'm up on the stand.
Post a Comment