My son is ever the wallflower when it comes to events at school. He tried out for the middle school track team, but as the season draws to a close, still hasn’t qualified to run in any event. When asked why he hasn’t yet qualified, he hems and haws, coming up with obtuse excuses. From what I can surmise, everything from the wrong shoes to the absence of someone to challenge in a race has kept him from a chance to run the 100- and 200-yard dashes. But it’s not his fault, he assures me.
He missed the cut for the middle school basketball team because he was whispering to a friend (who also didn’t make it). The coach thought they weren’t listening, so he passed them over in favor of other boys– whose listening skills were better than their basketball skills. The lesson was lost on my son, though. According to him, it wasn’t his fault the coach didn’t pick him.
His losing team in Little League baseball is solely the fault of the coach, he says. When offered the chance to play for another team this summer, he says he doesn’t like the field they play on, doesn’t know the kids (he does), and doesn’t want to play for two teams. Wow. I guess that’s somebody else’s fault, too, right? I don’t dare ask.
This is the same kid who has selective amnesia when it comes to turning in homework assignments. He has any number of reasons why he has missing assignments or bad grades on some tests and homework. Again, it isn’t his fault when grades don’t get entered or group assignments get turned in without his name on them. He forgets to use his agenda book to write down his assignments, but assures me it isn’t his fault. Asking his teachers to help make him accountable to them doesn’t work either– he says it’s their fault they don’t ask him to show them his agenda book.
He’ll probably get married someday, only to get a no-fault divorce down the road.
