Tough Love...

Dear Mark: Today we had to show you "tough love." And it was very hard to do.

Your History project was due last Friday. You know, the same project that you've had all quarter to complete. The same project that we've frequently reminded you to work on, spacing your time wisely.

But, like many kids your age, you procrastinated. You spent weeks wasting away your afternoons with playing video games. You waited until the night before it was due to tackle this beast. It took you until 1:30am before you finally had it done. Well, mostly.

Friday morning you brought your report to school on a flash drive, and you asked your study hall teacher to allow you to print it off. But, study hall ended before you could print the entire thing. So, you brought what you had to History class and turned in an incomplete project.

Today (Monday) you printed off the rest. And then you asked your History teacher if you could still submit the remaining printouts. He reluctantly allowed you to add them to the stack. That is when you noticed a very poor grade written on top of your packet. You suddenly realized you had also failed to turn in a packet along with your report. 

All that last minute rushing around had ultimately led to your making lots of mistakes, forgetting pieces of the project, and ultimately earning a bad grade.

Here is where the tough love comes in.

You came home with a sad expression and feeling very stressed out. Why? Because we had already told you that if you do not earn an A in the class (due to missed or late work), we will take away your video games until you bring that grade back up...no matter how long it takes.

Tough love says, I know you are stressed and very sorry for your mistake. But your punishment still stands.

Tough love says, it is worth teaching you this painful lesson for the future. More important, in fact, than making you happy today.

Someday you'll look back on this entry and hopefully appreciate our decision to show you tough love. We do love you so very much. We know you'll do better next time, buddy. We really do.