Made that poor kid read Freak the Mighty today

[conuly]

"This book is boring!"
"No argument here. I would've assigned something else. But school starts tomorrow, so quick, retell the end for me."
"Um. Well. I'm not sure. I think they give him a box?"
"Who gives whom a box and why?"
"Um. It starts with a J, let me-"
"I don't need a name. I need to know who it is."
"I think it's a friend of his grandparents?"
"So who is him? And what happened to his friend?"
"I'm not really sure."
(Spoiler: The friend died in the last few chapters.)
"Sooooo you need to go back to the last thing you are sure about and re-read, and this time, try to pay attention."
"I was paying attention!"
"So do it again."

This is actually the second time we've had this exact same conversation today. I agree that force-reading two books on the day before school starts is not something I'd normally ask him to do, but he's still complaining like I'm the one who assigned these.

Comments

[gwydion]

Thank you for staying on that, parenting wise.

[conuly]

Babysitting wise! I only watch them in the gap between daycare and mom's commute.

[gwydion]

Ah! Well bonus points for sure. Clearly you are doing it right. :)

[halfshellvenus]

Or the one who decided not to read the books earlier!

[conuly]

No, that's not his fault. His mother didn't like his assigned school, so she re-registered him over the summer, taking my advice and going directly through the school. He only got his summer reading list a few days before and I had fortuitously found both books at the used book store for him so his mother didn't have to make a special trip. (I make a trip to The Strand as often as possible. It's always special, but it's not a special trip!)