That is my son.

He went for a three day school camp this morning.

5 weeks ago, when the school started I explained to my children that I will not do anything the last minute. Tuesday is Basketball day and my preparation for the day starts as soon as I get up and start making the school lunch. Before leaving home, I put dinner in the slow cooker, so it will be ready when I return after the basketball practice at 8.30 pm.

I rush back home in the evening to pick up the kids for their practice to find my son is not ready because he has to pack. Evening traffic is a nightmare and every minute that I am not on the road makes me at least 10 minutes late. We were already running late and as we were leaving home, my son said “mom, can you please buy me some lollies and chips to take with me to the camp?”

“no, I am not buying anything. I have warned you when the school started that I will not do anything in the last minute” I was so mad at him. He is 12 and he can see for himself how much of a struggle it is to balance my work and their activities.

I looked at the time and it was already 5.15 and I had to be at the practice by 5.30. I couldn’t risk going to the supermarket after the practice because it was raining and there is no guarantee that I could get back to my place before the shop closes.

The letter from the school did mention “please don’t bring any food” and I did tell my son I will not do anything the last minute. But I still felt sorry. I didn’t want to feel sorry for clearly it was my son’s fault for not telling me that he wants to take lollies to the camp when I did the grocery shopping on the weekend.

Still I went to the shop and bought the stuff he wanted. No I am not a martyr. I don’t know what I am.

After all the mad rush, I was already having a migraine and I just wanted to come back home. Fortunately dinner was ready and hot  in the slow cooker and I told the kids to serve themselves while I went to get panadol.

Then I heard “mom”. Not the usual tone. this one sounded soft and nice and very apologetic.

“What now?” I asked

“What bag should I take?”

I had this image of living in Flint stone era, for I really wanted a giant club and smack my son.

I had to get the bag for him from the attic.

I thought now he would do the packing and he did. All was well I thought till I went to brush my teeth and saw his boardies ( shorts) in the washroom. As he was going to a beach camp, I asked “don’t you need to take your boardies?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot” he replied.

The school has given him a list of items he needed to take with him and he was using the list to pack..and still he forgot to take, socks, hat and water bottle.

This morning as I was rushing to get everything ready, he asked “mom, do you know where my rain coat is?”

Finally he was ready and he carried all his stuff to my car and just as I was leaving, I thought I will check his room. There on the bed were his sleeping bag, pillow and water bottle. ( all items that he must take)

My son has an IQ of 139. He was given admission to maths acceleration and robotics program on the basis of his school report and interview. ( he didn’t have to sit for the entrance test) He built a vpd ( virtual presence device) on his own last year, He can do everything except get his stuff organized.

When Yaya went for the same camp two years ago, I just dropped her to the school and picked her up when she returned. I didn’t have to do a thing for her.

Both are surely my kids..yet how different they are !