Two Words That Make Me Cringe ---- Science Fair

Isn't it bad enough I had to endure Science Fair as a kid. Why now I am subjected to the pain of it all over again through my child? It's just not fair! ha ha....i'm sure there's a punny joke in there about it being fair....science fair - but I'm not in a joking mood.

My son, bless him - he's a good kid and all, is NOT a project kind of kid. Never has been. Can't see him ever being one. Coming up with an idea and making a plan. Organizing thoughts and facts and information. Understanding the information, processing it and then creating an imaginative display - complete with...oh i dont' know....some creativity. Not his strong traits. Oh and while I'm a really good procrastinator - he's the KING! He can make something that only takes 10minutes stretch out to last hours. Now I know how frusterating it was for my mom - raising me. Only difference was I would eventually get down to business and get the work done and more times than not, the pressure of the looming deadline resulted in a much better final product - that's just the way I am. My son has the procrastination thing down pat but the 'get it done' part.....not so much.

So I'm learning a whole lot about solar panels, seen the inside workings of a solar garden light and am trying deperately to explain things to him and guide him in hopes that he will figure out how to get this project done with as little assistance from me as possible. Face it, I'm finished school and don't get extra mommy credit for the brilliance & creativity of this project so he needs to do it himself. It's just hard to watch him struggle, knowing he's in over his head because he's just not a project person. It was also hard to dish out money today for things like printer ink ($56!) and a box of solar lights ($20) so he could do this project. These items were NOT in the budget....and the ink is something I've needed for the last 2 weeks for work and I've been unwilling to 'find' the money elsewhere in the budget for myself but somehow made an exception for just for him. *sigh* the sacrifices we make for our kids. Now I just have to figure out which bill is going to be short on the payment this week because of it.