My son started 1st grade earlier this month and in just the first few weeks he has come home with some “yellow dots” for distracting others. This theme of distraction isn't new to me. I remember explaining to him once that is was OK to get distracted now and then, but I encouraged that when it’s time for business, get to it! Well, he took that and ran with it, and now, “I got distracted.” is a readily used excuse around our house. Kiddo 1, Mom 0.
I still hold to the idea that it’s OK to get distracted now and then, what I don’t hold to is distracting others. I tell him after one “yellow dot”, “I can’t ask you to never ever get distracted, but you can’t be distracting others! If you don’t get your work done because you’re busy doodling, that’s your fault. If your neighbor doesn’t finish their work because you’re bothering them, that’s your fault too.”
During 1st grade Parent Night I asked his teacher if he knew what options were available to him after he was done with his work, thinking that that was the time when he was distracting others. Lo and behold, she tells me that yes, he knew what to do, but that he was stopping in his own work in order to distract his neighbor. Ugh.
It makes me think about how, as adults, we can get so wrapped up in what our “neighbors” (co-worker, friend, family members) are doing, that we forget to take care of our own. It’s a slippery slope that I try to avoid, but as it happens, we all get distracted.
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