Exsqueeze Me?

I received an interesting telephone call yesterday from my son's English teacher. Of course, since he's been out with pneumonia, it was acknowledged that the work from the past week or so would be a bit late. This does not, however, account for missing homework from January and February, and in particular, one of the items being a piece of paper the teacher simply wanted a parent to initial for a 100% score on a quiz grade.

::blink, blink::

or when I "happened" to run into my daughter's science teacher and she makes a veiled reference to the "kind of kids" my daughter hangs out with at school and follows it with "my kids wouldn't be allowed to hang with them!"

::sigh::

or when I "accidentally" bumped into her social studies teacher for the first time and was enlightened as to her grade for the marking period and her behavior in class, which is less than stellar.

::sniffle::

I am most assuredly distressed. Every night at dinner, I inquire of the amount of homework they have; each answer I receive is "none -- I did it at school."

Why yes, I was born yesterday - thank you for asking.

I thought I had my head in the game with them...thought I was keeping close enough tabs on their progress at school. When I asked if I needed to meet with any of their teachers, why on earth would I take "no" for an answer? Based upon assurances that whatever suspicious grade would be elevated on said interim and no further measures need be taken offensively, I thus went and buried my head further into the ground. The ground was warm and the earth, soft.

Well, now.

I've often said I cannot help or fix what I am not aware of. I am now aware, but am unsure how to deal with this. Back when I was growing up and by chance, got caught into trouble, I remember really resenting my Mom for as many times as I was grounded. I would even sneak out in the middle of the night, just for spite. (Sorry Ma if you are reading this...just *storytelling* :)

Does it matter if they resent me?

With MySpace being a big part of their social circle, that is the last thing I want to take away from them, but the hours spent online vs. the hours spent studying, reading, or doing homework far outweigh those spent on academia.

I am thinking they will only resent me for a short while...

With Easter break coming up, what do I do? Postpone the punishment until after vacation? Report cards do not come out until after the break, so I may be too punitive prior to the fact and it would lose its impact.

Again, I state my "at a loss-ness" and would appreciate constructive feedback prior to my head being back up in the clouds where it has apparently been visiting these last few months...

Thanks.