Short Term Pain = Long Term Gain

The kids are going well at school.  There are the occasional tears from the twins when they call of an evening.  It is mostly when they are having a low moment and start thinking about their pets and wondering how the rest of us are going.  It seems though once they are with their friends and doing something that the low moment passes and they are back being happy chaps again.


In the times of their tears and asking to come home it is my job as their mother to hear what they feel they need to say, and at the same time not get caught up in the emotion of it all so that my mind and emotions are free to be more of a supporter rather then a worrier.  Because worrying does not serve them and it does not serve me.  We waist a lot of time worrying about things that are out of our control or none of our business.  It does not help the other party involved as it pushes unwanted energy their way and restricts the choices that they make.  And it ties up our creative mind so that it is to busy thinking worry thoughts to be helpful and thinking creative, constructive, solution finding thoughts.


And if I don't teach the kids now, how to cope with things they may not necessarily like but are beneficial to their long time learning and future it will be an even bigger struggle for them down the track when it is really going to count.  "Short term pain will = Long term gain"


And my grade 7 twin is now teaching one of his mates this concept.  Grade 7 twin is getting in and getting his home work done.  Even if it means spending extra time before or after his allotted study time and getting extra homework help in his lunch breaks or after school.  The story he tells himself to get in and get his homework done is - if he gets in and gets it finished now means extra time to play later. 


Now his friend wants to play first, dawdle through the study period, not worry about homework help so he can play and then when it is at the last minute realizes he has not done his homework starts to panic and the asks Grade 7 twin if he can copy his work.  And I have to say that I am very proud of Grade 7 twin as he told his mate, No he can't copy his work, but I will give you some help to understand what the homework is asking you to do.  By doing this he is helping his friend by not just giving in and letting him copy work which does no favours for either boy.  The mate is learning and Grade 7 twin is reinforcing what he has learnt by helping his mate understand what the tasks are.
And they will probably in the years to come have a better friend ship because Grade 7 twin didn't give in and just hand over his work for his mate to copy.