Peeved

Last week Ian received an assignment at school to make a self-propelled car out of household junk.  You know, powered by rubber band, balloon, or mousetrap.  We looked around the house and scrounged some junk: food containers, hot wheels, etc.  He went over to a friends house and they made a car that sort of worked.  He came home today to tell me that the teacher wouldn't accept his car and he had to make a new one by tomorrow.  The reasons? The aesthetics of the car were bad and he "didn't like" the engine.  The car wasn't fast, it did not go far, but it worked.  Then Ian tells me about the cars that "passed" inspection.  Of course, they were awesome looking and some of them came from car kits.  To say it got my blood boiling is an understatement. 

The assignment said nothing about the cars looking nice, it only said for them to be self-propelled and made out of household junk.  I did not take over the assignment.  I let Ian figure it out and do it himself.  I'm one of those crazy moms.  I don't do my kids science fair projects.  I don't do their reports or projects.  I do try to edit their essays, but the kids have starting printing them out without letting me see them anymore.  I can help make them better, let me help.  Anyway, I have enough to do thanks.  And I don't get any satisfaction out my kids getting grades that aren't theirs.

So, Ian and I worked together on another car.  We still tried to use junk.  He had a band concert tonight with the high school band and had to be there three hours early.  I just snapped.  I am helping him with an unfair assignment rather than doing my own homework.   And we can't make it work.  Fine, I can do this.

I took him to his function and went to the store to get rubber bands.  I had to buy stuff for this project.  I then went online and just looked up directions for a car.  Thirty minutes later, I had an awesome cardboard, duct tape, rubber band car.  That works.  Towards the end, it does turn around and come back a little, but whatever. 

Lesson learned?  I think I did, but not so much Ian.  Now it's late, the concert was two hours long, my homework for tomorrow is not done, and I'm exhausted (what's new about that?).  I still have twenty pages on Discourse in the Novel to read before I can even do my written response to it.  Oh, and it is academic intellectual babble, complete nonsense.  But, that car is awesome, bet I get a good grade on it, too.