It’s not just the kids. I’m probably the only one, but I did go through a phase where before I could get on with important work, I’d need to make sure my desk was tidy. And before doing the essential stuff in the morning, just checking my email. And invariably getting sucked into something. But it’s probably just me.
That aside, my eldest has now graduated to big school. And in honour of more homework assignments, here’s a list of his (and some of my other kids’) choice reasons to delay starting homework.
- I just need to set the alarm on my phone for the morning. Does it really take 15 minutes to do that?
- I didn’t get my turn on the computer / he had 20 minutes more than I did / variants on the same theme.
- I wasn’t playing on the computer – I was just helping (insert younger sibling name) with their turn.
[pause from writing blog post – I just need to go check Facebook]
- I wasn’t playing on the computer – I was looking up something for my homework. (on Minecraft? really?)
- But my (3 year old) brother told me to do something else.
- I’m really tired. I call this the ‘tired sandwich’ as it’s usually sandwiched between coming home from football practice and running around the house after younger siblings. Both done with unfeasible amounts of energy, and sandwiching a bout of tiredness in the middle that may even include laying down on the floor without the strength to lift an arm.
- I don’t have any / I’ve already done it. This is usually followed by suddenly remembering that there’s homework stuff to do just when bedtime is announced. So the threat of bed is a greater evil than the threat of homework – who’d have guessed?
Anyway, I’ve got to move in. My Twitter feed just beeped.
At a later point, we’ll have to do our favourite excuses for not having done homework. But then, I doubt we’d beat “We ran out of toilet paper at my house last night, and my Dad isn’t feeling so good. He grabbed it in a big rush and I haven’t seen it since.” (spotted on fanpop).