I know that there's nothing worse than to have to listen to someone brag about their kid but this morning I just can't help myself.
My wife and I have one son who is now 13 and we have been going through what is probably normal for a lot of parents. He is one of the nicest kids you could ever meet - very polite, picks nice friends, and never gets into trouble. But our concern is that he's just not self-motivated. We have to get on him to do his homework and study for tests (after which he does very well) but left to his own devices, he would play video games all day.
Well, all this lethargic behavior seems to have changed since he got a job as a caddie at a nearby Country Club. He now asks me to get him up at 4:30 in the morning so that he can be the first one on the sign-up sheet and, therefore the first one out (although last night he said to make it 5:00 because the next kid to show up doesn't get there until 5:45 and there's no reason to get there a full hour before him).
The amazing thing is that I just have to touch him to wake him up at 4:30 or 5:00 and he pops out of bed like a Jack-In-The-Box, raring to go. When I drop him off, he's the only one there, the buildings are all locked up, and he sits there getting chewed up by mosquitoes for an hour to an hour and a half until the pro shop is unlocked. And he loves it (not the mosquitoes, but the whole caddie thing)!
Anyways, there is such an overnight change in him, maturity wise, that I'm about to bust with pride (and relief). Thanks for bearing with me. I'm not a braggart by nature, but today I just can't help myself.
My wife and I have one son who is now 13 and we have been going through what is probably normal for a lot of parents. He is one of the nicest kids you could ever meet - very polite, picks nice friends, and never gets into trouble. But our concern is that he's just not self-motivated. We have to get on him to do his homework and study for tests (after which he does very well) but left to his own devices, he would play video games all day.
Well, all this lethargic behavior seems to have changed since he got a job as a caddie at a nearby Country Club. He now asks me to get him up at 4:30 in the morning so that he can be the first one on the sign-up sheet and, therefore the first one out (although last night he said to make it 5:00 because the next kid to show up doesn't get there until 5:45 and there's no reason to get there a full hour before him).
The amazing thing is that I just have to touch him to wake him up at 4:30 or 5:00 and he pops out of bed like a Jack-In-The-Box, raring to go. When I drop him off, he's the only one there, the buildings are all locked up, and he sits there getting chewed up by mosquitoes for an hour to an hour and a half until the pro shop is unlocked. And he loves it (not the mosquitoes, but the whole caddie thing)!
Anyways, there is such an overnight change in him, maturity wise, that I'm about to bust with pride (and relief). Thanks for bearing with me. I'm not a braggart by nature, but today I just can't help myself.
