So my son started middle school and immediately his grades dropped down into D’s and F’s. Since his mother was able to get all the teachers in elementary school to bend over backwards and do special things to help my son out, and give him Ritalin (out of my control as she doesn’t co-parent), instead of letting him fail and learn to deal with the way his mind works, he wasn’t prepared for middle school. He didn’t know how to be responsible for himself. So now that he was responsible for writing down homework assignments and remembering what things on his own he was struggling.

So, with his grades dropping what do think was the first thing his mother did? Any guesses??? She immediately put him on Ritalin, again. She didn’t try any other steps to help him out. So when he wasn’t getting bringing homework home or doing it she wasn’t checking it, I guess. So I guess here thought process is like most horrible parents, lets go for the quick fix rather than taking the appropriate steps, actually parenting.

I on the other hand did my job as a parent and set up consequences for him and gave him process to follow, to get him in a routine. Probably the biggest impact was buying my son a watch, which I suggest to any middle school or high school child. Don’t just buy any watch, but this watch.

This watch has 5 alarms that can set and the watch will vibrate like a pager or phone. So to solve the issue where my son just couldn’t remember to write down the assignments for each night, we set alarms for those 5 classes. So he doesn’t have an excuse. When the alarm goes off he has to immediately make the correct choice to stop talking to friends and write down his assignment or face consequences when he gets home. He is now getting his homework signed about 98% of the time. They say it takes something like two or month to form a habit. He probably doesn’t need the watch at this point, but we make him wear it anyway so he doesn’t have an excuse, as the alarms are his second shot at getting his homework signed.

Please parents, DO NOT give your kids drugs, but give them the tools they need to succeed. The first and best tool is consequences, please don’t forget this or be afraid. Remember you job is to parent, not be your childrens best friend. Yes, that means being the bad guy a lot of the time.

Save your childs brain and future by not giving him drugs, he isn’t the problem its the system.