Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree!!!

My mother kindly suggested that I start blogging about Miss Taylor too. She is afraid people will think I like Mr Ryan more than Miss Taylor...ha ha ha! I reminded my mother that I have been spending entire days with Ryan and Taylor has been going to school. Plus, Ryan seems to be at that stage where most everything he does and/or says is blasted funny. So, I told my mother I would blog about Taylor soon but that I just couldn't make something up to make something up. I try to write about things that are from my heart! (That darn "blue" in me again!)

Well, this evening brought an event to our home that so must run in my family (on the female side) MATH HOMEWORK ISSUES! The moment the math book comes out of the backpack "all heck breaks loose" in this house. It is flashbacks from my wonderful days of taking EVERY flippin' math class TWICE in high school AND college. Yes, you read that right EVERY MATH CLASS TWICE! So, needless to say I am absolutely NO HELP to Tay when it comes to her struggles with this complicated task.

I have always believed in telling/teaching my kids that EVERYONE has strengths and weaknesses in life's everyday tasks. It is no secret to anyone that when someone talks math my ears just automatically turn off what they are saying because I have spent way too many hours TRYING to understand to no avail. Well, unfortunately, Miss Taylor took me being math inept and automatically assumes she is not good at it either. That is her excuse anyways when she is not able to figure a problem out quickly and easily. I have been trying to explain to her that just because she has to work at it doesn't mean she isn't good at it.

So many nights I have seen "the look." It is when a child is working on something they don't understand but they want you to think they are trying to figure it out...so they look up toward the ceiling, then their eyes roll down to see if anyone is watching them "working so hard on the problem", then they start quietly talking to themselves as if all of this is helping to make everything magically come together in their head to then be put down on paper. She thinks she is tricking ME? I don't think so...I was the one who invented "The Look!"

Even better is watching Will try to explain to her what she is not understanding. Talk about a blast from the past! It is like an out of body experience: watching my own father try to explain to me. Will always starts out by saying "Tay, what doesn't look right there?" Tay ALWAYS responds with "I don't know?"

Will: Look again then Taylor.

Taylor: OH! I get it now. When she really doesn't!

Will: Taylor you are making silly mistakes, slow down and do it right the first time.

I am telling you if I had a PENNY for every time my father said those words to me I would be so darn rich!

As a parent, you want better for your own children than what you had. And that is no different with the ability to learn and grasp concepts. I know Taylor is MUCH, MUCH smarter than I was at her age(she thankfully got her dad's genes in the intelligence dept.)! But I just wish she didn't get frustrated so easily(she got that from ME, if you hadn't already guessed)! I guess we have all had to learn that some things just take a bit of extra effort before succeeding. Let's just hope she comes to grasp that understanding soon or Ms. Lolli and the other middle school math teachers are in for a HUGE challenge...And no it won't be the challenge of having me taking middle school math classes with Taylor next year!

Another night getting through math without tears!!!!!!! Yippee!!