The Late Club - from another perspective

Recently, a couple of celebrities committed suicide and there was a lot of discussion about why anyone would commit suicide?! I mean, they are rich and famous. Isn't that enough?! Then, I read this post my friend Maddy shared with us and it talked about perspective!

And I believe I have nothing but perspective. To be honest, I lead a mundane life. However, when I chronicle it for my children, I am able to look at every ordinary moment in an extraordinary way. And I have said so several times that it is all in the perspective! And I hope the boys can keep things in perspective when life drags them down.

Here is Part 2 of The Late Club series!

TDSB actually calls parents when their children are late to school. For high school students, there could be a call for every period they are late for!

Since my land line was dead (the first number TDSB calls) and my phone was dying (the second number TDSB calls), their automated service started calling Craigley's number (the third number on the list). Craigley was OK the first couple of times; in fact, he was almost supportive and wanted to help ASid deal with his lateness. Then, he lost it!

Craigley wanted to know what I was doing to help ASid. I almost always get the third degree when the boys are not functioning at their optimum levels. I let Craigley know that I have been doing almost exactly the same thing for close to 3 school years. ASid had no lateness issues in Grades 9 and 10. This literally developed half way through Grade 11! I talk to the boy and occasionally lecture him. But as I mentioned somewhere here already, as the boys get older, they make decisions that affect their lives. They have to take ownership at some point.

For the most part, Craigley agreed. I believe that he was just frustrated about getting a call from ASid's school on a daily basis. The other morning, as ASid left for school, Craigley let him know that if he gets another call from ASid's school, Craigley would be waking up ASid next time and the boy wouldn't enjoy it at all.

Craigley goes from kindness to threats in 2.2 seconds. He has very little patience to begin with!

Meanwhile, I got the land line fixed and hopefully, I get to a new phone next month. That way, Craigley will stop receiving these calls of lateness.

Throughout the last few days I was reminded of how Craigley takes immense pride in sharing how he missed his entire Grade 12 year. The only year that mattered was OAC or Grade 13 and he was there then! Perhaps some teenagers look at that penultimate year of high school as the year to get their ya-yas out?!

While I was trying to make sense of the teenager and his sudden lack of respect for punctuality, I got an update call from the mother of the teenage boy whose dad kicked him out. Apparently the boy is depressed and talks about ending his life. His mother is petrified that she cannot get her husband or her son to reconcile. She is mostly worried for the boy!

I am not saying that as parents we should be afraid to have certain expectations from our children. We must expect the very best from our children. However, how we deal with our children when those expectations are not met is vital.

An adult committing suicide is a sad statement about life. Children driven to take their own lives is tragic.

I truly believe the Late ClubPresident is a temporary stint. No child of mine will be late for the rest of his life. I take both punctuality and life seriously, and the boys will as well!