Green jello

I have been attending the 7 Habits of Effective People Seminar through work (Thank you DSHS). Many of the principles and examples are familiar, but others like private and public victories and the idea that Quadrants of Urgent, Effective, Deception, and Excess Waste can increase and decrease with the amount of attention/resource we give them are new thoughts.

SO I came home and had some heart to heart with my two middle children. And became very discouraged. One is so insecure and unmotivated. He doesn't think he has any purpose for being, and no willingness to work, except in very select specialized areas that don't include home and school. The other is also insecure and very self- oriented. If her energy isn't directed in entertainment, quick self-gratification, she is irritable, and demanding. She tried to argue that she should quit an after school sport she previously had been desperate to join because it is "hard, she's no good at it, the goal of friendship wasn't achieved, etc." To add further, she tossed in her that she is in a lot of "pain" that I "couldn't possible understand", and I am "unloving, unconcerned, and don't like her anymore." She admitted later that she was trying all the arsenal she could think of to convince me that quitting was the only possible solution.

I did not cave, but I am exhausted and a little disgusted. I keep hearing counsel that I was given when chinstrap was small " you will need to push him more." And I keep thinking - how do you push jello? You can't because it just oozes and spreads and makes a mess. The only way to move it is spoonful by spoonful or by slurping it up with a straw. I guess the spoonfuls are too infrequent, or too small to satisfy me???