Pat Ritter. Books

[dub]

Cobber it all comes across as somewhat regimental. I hope you are paying him a good wage for all the cleaning of the house and vacuuming plus all that sweeping. 'Each Tuesday and Friday is change the linen day and Friday is clean up the house day'.
What with all the reading and algebra the days must be long? (love the maths, that's cool).
When do you find the time for fun recreational things?
I've a read little of Dr Edward de Bono - How to teach your child how to think.
Its more complex an issue than discipline alone, as human psychology is !
What does the little man want to be when he is a grown up ?

Wishing you guys well
health & happiness

[patritter]

Dub - thank you for your kind words. I appreciate them. I give him the weekend off - I thought it was enough reward for the good work he'd been doing. Today it's back to the grindstone of life. Here is the next stage:

We are finally getting there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Over the time my grandson has been with me we have journeyed across a few dry gullies and talked a lot about life.

Now he is making his bed as soon as he gets out of bed, bathes, prepares his own breakfast and cleans the house. We talk a lot about life and if his time with me encourages him to get back on the right track of life, my time with him has been worthwhile.

It appears the age of twelve is like a turning point in the game of life. This year he began high school and thinks he is bullet proof. I had news for him, he isn't. I've also discovered how clever and intelligent he is.

Although it's been many years since I've completed grade 8. In our day it was scholarship and if you failed you didn't go onto high school. Anyway, these days grade 8 is the start of high school.

We've been completing exercises from books, including English, Maths and Naplan Tests. Amazingly he has been doing everything to the best of his ability with excellent results.

To keep a tight rein on him I devised a schedule for him to follow. It is in a table form I prepare on the computer showing what he's doing and how long it takes to do. At the end of each week I give him a score and make a comment. This way he works with me to initially produce the schedule and I put my part into it. We work together to get the desired results.

More tomorrow.

[patritter]

Yesterday we sat and watched the movie 'Tooth Fairy'. I don't normally watch movies but I did this one. We spoke about the movie and saw how tough life can become and with hard work one can overcome any adversary.

School work is continuing whilst my grandson is with me. A writing exercise he is doing is: 'Children should be allowed to use mobile phones at school'. He is to write a story with an introduction, give an opinion and end with a conclusion.

My grandson wrote eleven words to express his thoughts and naturally, you guessed it - his answer was 'yes, children should be allowed to use mobile phones at school.' (eleven words).

My mind travelled back in time to a small office when I was helping a friend, Allan (he'll know who I'm talking about) to put together a report. Allan showed me how to elementise a subject by breaking the headings down into smaller elements to write the report. Provide the proper information for the reader.

Now the student became the teacher. I showed my grandson how to break down the heading into smaller headings and describe his thoughts and passion for his reasons. By the time we completed the plan of the introduction he almost had a full page of notes. Thank you Allan for showing me these secrets so many years ago.

Until tomorrow.

[dub]

Hi Pat mi bueno amigo
Sounds like the lad is in 'shoulder to the wheel' mode.
If he ? the grandson, can maintain this high level of discipline he should achieve much.
We wish him luck

[patritter]

Thank you Dub for your kind words of encouragement. Yes, he certainly is. I believe in discipline and self-discipline, honesty and trust. I think we've at last turned the corner and everything is coming together.

It's Monday again and school books come out for another week. We had a quiet weekend with plenty of bonding; questions and answered I never knew I could answer.

My love for my grandson shows no bounds however in any relationship there needs to be trust and honesty. When I was a counsellor, I emphasised to my clients how important relationships were between two parties because of trust and honesty.

Relationships are like having a tight rope between two poles. The first pole is a huge concrete one buried in cement whilst at the other end, the pole is made of cardboard buried in sand. Between the two poles is a tight rope.

This relationship depends on how tight this rope is between both parties. It is held tight by playing fair with one another. Not hurting one another's feelings; sharing honesty and being responsible for any actions.

To keep the rope tight each pole needs to be kept from swaying.

Communication is important to express feelings; understand how one another feels and reacts. Both parties need to be on the same page of the book of life at the same time.

If one fails to understand or doesn't play fair with the other person, than the rope will crumble and more than likely the relationship will fail.

More tomorrow.

[patritter]

Today it's writers group at Pomona. The story this week is 'The Horizon'. Here is the story I'm presenting this morning:

The Horizon:

This is a story of an under achiever. He didn’t know he was an under achiever because he couldn’t see the horizon or direction of where to go to complete his journey. He was lost in a forest of doubt.

From an early age, his life was taunted by being constantly told he was an ‘idiot’ and ‘worthless’. A school teacher once told him, ‘if you had another brain, it’d be lonely.’ He never understood why these people discredited him.

These taunts were like a heavy weight pushing his self-esteem to as low as it could go. He saw no escape. In return he acted as if he was an ‘idiot’, his reason he didn’t know; but thought if people thought he was an idiot, he would fulfil their desires.

Throughout his schooling years he struggled until he commenced work. One day the Leading Hand gave him a job to complete. This task he did to the best of his ability and resulted in the Leading Hand acknowledging the good work by presenting him with an award.

He showed his father the award and wanted his father to feel proud of what he’d achieved. Unfortunately his father ed and said, ‘look you’re an idiot. Where did they get this – out of a corn flake packet?’

Life went on and many years later this lad wanted to join the police. Ever since he could remember from the age of four years old he wanted to be a law enforcement officer. After two attempts, he succeeded.

Fixed in his mind, the old record of ‘him being an idiot’ surfaced. Constantly he fought these demons and eventually went on to become a detective.

After a serious investigation, his Boss expressed his appreciation on carrying out such an important investigation. He didn’t know how to receive this accolade because he felt he was an ‘idiot’ and ‘worthless’ and how could he be recognized for valour.

Life continued and after many years still continued to live in the forest of doubt until one day he acknowledged to himself he was not an idiot or worthless and would do his best to reach his horizon of success.

It took many years of hard work, at the same time he kept his eye on the ball reaching for the horizon of success. He continues to this day without the constant reminded he was an ‘idiot’. His motto – Never Give Up!
Word count: 408

Hope you enjoy reading it. More tomorrow.

[patritter]

I think I'm turning a corner with my grandson. We had a wonderful day at the writers group yesterday. On the way home he promised me he would never again get upset nor get into trouble to embarrass me. Although I hope his predictions are good, I sincerely hope from now on he lives a good and enriched life, than his time with me has been worthwhile.

My son shows miniature horses with his wife and this Friday they are attending the Marburg Show. My grandson asked me if he could go with them. I agreed he could. Only problem is he needs to do his school work today (Anzac Day) for Friday. He agreed.

Last night we were watching television and he told me he thought I wouldn't let him go to the show. I explained his behaviour has been excellent and he deserved to attend the show. I think he understands what compromise, trust and honesty is.

My friend sent me an e-mail after he heard about my grandson's behaviour and told me twelve year old children only take notice of those who are up to five years older than they are. After listening to what my grandson has told me, I'm a little convinced he could be right.

Hopefully my grandson has learnt his lesson and this is a turning point in his life. We have another week together and in that week, if everything goes to plan, than he will return to his parents a better behaved child.

More tomorrow.