Teaching does not come naturally to me, so it is really frustrating trying to help my child with her math homework when it is now being taught different from how I originally learned. What makes it even more frustrating is that I swear the people who write the math workbooks used in Princess D’s class do not edit before publishing. Last night, there were two word problems on her worksheet I had to read multiple times in order to understand the problem. Explaining the solution to Princess D wasn’t any easier.
She was still trying to work out her last math problem by the time we had to leave for her swim lesson. As I was combing her hair in to a ponytail she kept saying “OUCH”. Sometimes saying it when my comb wasn’t even touching her head.
We were running late.
Homework wasn’t done or making sense.
She was acting extra dramatic.
That’s when I snapped. Slammed the comb on the table and threw my hands up in the air. Mama FAIL.
I took a deep breath. I picked up the comb and I finished her hair while she silently cried. Then I gabbed her swim bag and loaded us into the car. We weren’t even half way to the pool when her lesson was supposed to start.
That’s when I gave up. I turned the car around and headed home. I told Princess D how sorry I was. That I didn’t mean to get mad and that it wasn’t my best mama day. She forgave me, said that I am the best mama, and agreed that we should go home so she could finish her homework.
Stress got the best of me yesterday leaving the worst of me to take care of my daughter. When we got home we finished her math homework. I was able to teach her how to solve it, but she taught me that sometimes the best thing to do is to turn around and go back to deal with the main problem.
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Rarely does a session of helping my daughter with her math end without tears. Sometimes I’m at fault, sometimes it’s the math. Despite this, she insists that learning from me is her preferred method. (Algebra II, at this point — issues didn’t really start in earnest until Geometry, or perhaps a little during Algebra I. I don’t recall tears during Arithmetic, but I could have just forgotten by now.)
That has happened on more than one occasion in our house. I fear that it will happen again. We’re human and we need to allow ourselves to fail once in awhile.
You’re not alone, girl. That type of thing happens to me more than I’d like to admit. And usually when I slam something down, an expletive comes with it. You’re an awesome mom and Princess D is a darling little girl! xo
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