Since I dated my self in class Tuesday by assuming my classmates had all seen (or at least heard of the movie Ghostbusters 2), I'll just quickly explain the title of this weeks blog to address any wonder of it's relevance to the story. Jam Master Jay was the DJ for the legendary rap duo Run DMC, they are to thank for the first rock/rap collaboration with their rendition of Aerosmith's Walk this Way, also the song they are most famous for. Anyway, the revised title above will make more sense at the end of this blog. But there is your rap music history lesson for the day.
The middle boy, age 9, is best known around the house for his LOVE for football and HATRED of house cleaning. Anytime you ask him to help with a chore or even pick up his own mess, he will do anything to avoid complying.
Over Christmas Break, I was recovering from knee surgery and the kids we're going crazy with boredom. Their mother limited their video game usage to 1 hour a day which to them is like asking a fish to spend 23 hours a day outside of their tank. We played every board game in the house twice before the first week was past, the kids actually did a considerable amount of reading and drawing on sketch pads that they got from Santa this year, and we watched what felt like 1,000 movies. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Chronicles of Narnia 1 & 2, etc.
Our daily routine was to live like animals until 4:30 pm, when all of a sudden we transformed back into humans and raced to pick up the house before their mother got home from work shortly after 5. I found that we consistently ALMOST had the house back to normal when she walked in the door and looked curiously at us, wondering why 3 out of 4 of us were sweating and out of breath. The youngest and only girl, will help without even being asked, the oldest boy (who's still attempting to get that driver's permit) needs a little more convincing but will quickly decide it's not worth losing his cell phone, zune or video game privileges over. The middle boy on the other hand, has neither a phone nor an mp3 player and he's decent at video games, but not nearly as addicted as his older brother.
I needed his help if we were ever going to get this house completely cleaned up by the time their mom gets home. I'm still astonished how I convinced him to participate in his least favorite activity in the free world, but I'll explain it to you as best I can and then I'll cross my fingers and hope that by writing this I haven't jinxed my progress.
The more we watched these movies based on army teams, mid-evil warriors, young magicians and alien robots in the form of Chevy Camaros & semis, I noticed how excited he got over their missions and journeys and battles. I never thought it would work in a millions years, but one day as the two kids and I raced around trying to clean. I stopped and yelled "Agent Isaiah!", he sprung up from the couch, "I have an important mission for you!". He sprinted to the kitchen where I was standing and stopped at attention near me by the sink. "I am trusting only you to deliver these empty cans to the recycling bin outside! Are you ready to accept this challenge?!" His eyes were as wide as watermelons and without hesitation he scooped up the empty cans and defensively made his way toward the side door (as if there was Charlie everywhere and he ought not make any sudden movements or loud noises to give away his location). I swear to you, this is a true story and to this day, the kid who could magically regulate his digestive system to coincidentally kick in whenever he was asked to do anything resembling cleaning, was now proud to be called Can Master Zai, the title we gave him after a full month of safely transporting soda cans to the bin at the side of the house.
The middle boy, age 9, is best known around the house for his LOVE for football and HATRED of house cleaning. Anytime you ask him to help with a chore or even pick up his own mess, he will do anything to avoid complying.
Over Christmas Break, I was recovering from knee surgery and the kids we're going crazy with boredom. Their mother limited their video game usage to 1 hour a day which to them is like asking a fish to spend 23 hours a day outside of their tank. We played every board game in the house twice before the first week was past, the kids actually did a considerable amount of reading and drawing on sketch pads that they got from Santa this year, and we watched what felt like 1,000 movies. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Chronicles of Narnia 1 & 2, etc.
Our daily routine was to live like animals until 4:30 pm, when all of a sudden we transformed back into humans and raced to pick up the house before their mother got home from work shortly after 5. I found that we consistently ALMOST had the house back to normal when she walked in the door and looked curiously at us, wondering why 3 out of 4 of us were sweating and out of breath. The youngest and only girl, will help without even being asked, the oldest boy (who's still attempting to get that driver's permit) needs a little more convincing but will quickly decide it's not worth losing his cell phone, zune or video game privileges over. The middle boy on the other hand, has neither a phone nor an mp3 player and he's decent at video games, but not nearly as addicted as his older brother.
I needed his help if we were ever going to get this house completely cleaned up by the time their mom gets home. I'm still astonished how I convinced him to participate in his least favorite activity in the free world, but I'll explain it to you as best I can and then I'll cross my fingers and hope that by writing this I haven't jinxed my progress.
The more we watched these movies based on army teams, mid-evil warriors, young magicians and alien robots in the form of Chevy Camaros & semis, I noticed how excited he got over their missions and journeys and battles. I never thought it would work in a millions years, but one day as the two kids and I raced around trying to clean. I stopped and yelled "Agent Isaiah!", he sprung up from the couch, "I have an important mission for you!". He sprinted to the kitchen where I was standing and stopped at attention near me by the sink. "I am trusting only you to deliver these empty cans to the recycling bin outside! Are you ready to accept this challenge?!" His eyes were as wide as watermelons and without hesitation he scooped up the empty cans and defensively made his way toward the side door (as if there was Charlie everywhere and he ought not make any sudden movements or loud noises to give away his location). I swear to you, this is a true story and to this day, the kid who could magically regulate his digestive system to coincidentally kick in whenever he was asked to do anything resembling cleaning, was now proud to be called Can Master Zai, the title we gave him after a full month of safely transporting soda cans to the bin at the side of the house.
This is a very interesting concept, getting a child involved in doing things that they do not prefer to do. I too am just a tad bit older than most of the students in class, and understand the references you made in class as well as in your blog.
I at one point in time had to bouncing baby girls that I was a foster parent over for three years. In sharing this, I must admit that after movie and movie to me which I have to admit am a fan of, would have to motivate the girls to eat and at least put their toys away. Mind you at this age they are like 3 and 4, but I too used their favorite things to my advantage, like princesses, I would allow them to put their toys away as they wore their life size barbie doll outfits so they felt as it they were cleaning their castle. It is nice to see that it works as they get older.