The teenage boy strikes again

Oi. the joys of being the mother of a teenage boy. Who is 14, going on 40. Yay........

Lil C has been struggling at school. Not in all subjects, and not all the time. The trouble? He is notorious for not turning in assignments, and? He is a terrible test taker. He bombs just about every one. How does he do this? I don't know. But, I am the same way.

I psyche myself out before any major test. Throughout high school, and all the schooling and testing I had to do for my job. I would literally be sick to my stomach. Ucky tummy feelings, shakes, sweating and unable to keep food down until the test was over.

Lil C gets so down on himself every time he does poorly on a test. Now, there have been times since the beginning of the school year where he has not studied enough. Or didn't know exactly what to study. That usually comes from lack of paying attention in class. Yeah, I have a son who is the chatty kathy in class. Great. He gets that from me.

Lil C and HeeHaw have been in a constant headlock since the start of the '10-'11 school year about this. Lil C has had many a privilege taken away at Henry the 8th's house. TV, phone, Internet, hanging out with friends, additional chores.........

While I appreciate that the boy child needs some structure and/or discipline in the school area, I wonder if there is something else I can be doing to help him with his schooling. So, this week my goal is to see what tutoring is offered through the school, possible in the form of a class mate. I am pretty sure Lil C is gonna rebel against this but what can I say? I am his mommy dearest, and I only want what's best for him.

The reason I even bring any of this up? HeeHaw took away his phone not too long ago for poor grades. Lil C was able to earn back an old style flip phone, like WAY OLD SCHOOL. He hates it. It was especially terrible for him since he was used to having smart phones, like a Blackberry, or the Droid. HeeHaw covers Lil C on his cell phone plan, and I cover Doodle. After the last mishap with the Droid, HeeHaw didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money on a nice phone.

Now, I gave each of the kids some spending money from my tax return. Lil C chose to spend his on a phone. He chose the one he wanted, called me over to the computer and asked me to enter in my credit card number. I put in all my information. The website accepted my order and 5 days later, the boy child had a phone in his possession. Not activated, just ready to go when the time was right.


Lil C was told by HeeHaw that his grades would need to come up before he could activate it. Well, guess what? I called my cell provider yesterday to find out why my bill was so high, and:

Wait for it. It's worth it. You know it will be.

The boy child activated a 2 year contract when he purchased this phone! OMG I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I heard that. And it gets better. Not only did he start a contract with my phone carrier, his plan was ridiculously expensive: $59 a month, plus the data package at $29.99 a month, $3 a month in roadside service and $20 a month for Rhapsody. I swear, had you taken my blood pressure at that moment it would have been off the charts! as if that wasn't enough, we were past the 10 day free look. So, I am now the proud owner of this phone, under a NEW number, and I now have Lil C on my cell plan. Awesome.

I was able to, after 30 more minutes on the phone, reduce his plan, get it linked in to mine correctly, and eradicate all those charges. The only silver lining to this whole situation.

When I told Boy Wonder about what had happened, he did feel bad. I told him we were BOTH responsible for this happening. I needed to have reviewed the info better online, and so did he. When I got home from work we finished activating the phone and then had to call Henry the 8th to explain what happened.

The side benefit to all this? Lil C gets a new phone, which HeeHaw would never have paid for. I get to be the hero for ONCE with my boy. It's nice. Until I get the bill. Then I am sure I won't feel so nice/warm/fuzzy about it.

Comments

Saralee said…
Things happen . . . but we can go on! Sorry for all this trouble . . . but you do have one "HAPPY" boy with his new phone! Hope he's not so down on himself that he doesn't enjoy it. He was pretty sad last night when he sent me a text about what happened. Glad you got all the stuff reduced! Keep smiling!!

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