Time schedule & life of Secondary School

[daisyt]

hi prancingpony, don't mention, you are welcome. Glad to see your ds is happy in his new school. I don't see any better in sleeping time, in fact, its more or less about 10+ or 11. Her seniors told her, when they get to higher level, they will sleep even later. :shock:


Less free time, not getting any better too. Usually the first 2 weeks of school are fine but after that, back to hectic and busy schedule.

[kuzco]

prancingpony:

Great that you opened up the thread again, daisyt. I read what you went through last year with your sec 1 child. It took a bit of time adjusting to my ds secondary schedule. cca gave the most headache as i was concerned that ds wouldn't get into anything that would tire him so. things have settled somewhat and ds is happy in his new school. time management is something i have to tweak on as ds is not good in it at all. i have to prod and remind him all the time. leave him alone and he'll be playing with his pencil/ eraser and make playthings out of them! when i normally make him sleep by 9 - 9.30, he now sleeps at 10 pm as some days there's still work/project to finish. will it get better as they move along? they seem to have less free time than ever......

I'm so glad to know that I am not the only one having to prod and remind ds about his school work. We are still trying to adjust to the new schedule. CCAs have not been finalised yet and it is still quite difficult to see how the eventual outcome will be. Hopefully CCA does not clash with his tuition too.

My ds does his work on his notebook and when left alone, he will be having Youtube, facebook and msn and homework all going at the same time. :stupid: :frustrated: :x I have to keep a close watch on him every few minutes to make sure he is actually doing his work.

[dunnoleh]

kuzco:

... and when left alone, he will be having Youtube, facebook and msn and homework all going at the same time. :stupid: :frustrated: :x I have to keep a close watch on him every few minutes to make sure he is actually doing his work.

agree, some can self destruct very quickly if left alone, its a dicey balance between letting them fly and ... but where to?

[mummyjoyce]

I am watching this space too. My DD is in Sec one this year and she is always back only after 5pm! I am so concern since the workload is still light now. Just wondering how is she going to take it when school has settledown with CCA selection.

She tends to switch off her brain after 8pm since primary school - she usually sleep by 9pm so 8-9pm was usually chatting and bonding time. I need to explain to her that she needs to sleep later when workloads are more going forward.
Let see how she will cope soon.

[daisyt]

mummyjoyce:

I am watching this space too. My DD is in Sec one this year and she is always back only after 5pm! I am so concern since the workload is still light now. Just wondering how is she going to take it when school has settledown with CCA selection.

She tends to switch off her brain after 8pm since primary school - she usually sleep by 9pm so 8-9pm was usually chatting and bonding time. I need to explain to her that she needs to sleep later when workloads are more going forward.
Let see how she will cope soon.

hi mummyjoyce, I am sure your dd would be coping well. Its a transition period they need to go through and adapt.

[Fairy]

kuzco:

I'm so glad to know that I am not the only one having to prod and remind ds about his school work. We are still trying to adjust to the new schedule. CCAs have not been finalised yet and it is still quite difficult to see how the eventual outcome will be. Hopefully CCA does not clash with his tuition too.

My ds does his work on his notebook and when left alone, he will be having Youtube, facebook and msn and homework all going at the same time. :stupid: :frustrated: :x I have to keep a close watch on him every few minutes to make sure he is actually doing his work.

Last year, I had the same problem with my ds. He was on msn a lot and spent more time chatting than on his work. There were some tension between us as a result of my constant reminder for him to reduce his \"msn time''. After a while, I gave up checking on his online activities.

This year, it's my dd's turn. :x She was on facebook the whole Dec holidays, chatting, mousehunting & farming....Thinking that she'll stop when she starts her sec sch this year, I let her be. Til now, she still spends a lot of time online everday! :x Now she spends her time chatting online & messaging on the Hphone with her primary as well as sec sch friends.

I would be very grateful if any parents can share with me how to set limits to our teenagers' online activities without getting into a 'war of words' with them and straining the parent-child relationship while maintaining our parental authority.

[daisyt]

Hi Fairy, I thought I am the only one having this msn, facebook and blog problems. Glad to know, you are actually having this problem as me too. We tried to talk, give her limits, nag, kept a close eye on (like kuzco) and whatever ways but not successful. No choice, my hubby did something very drastic - block them in her laptop. I have no other options as I am seeing her BEGINNING to get addicted. I know this created some unhappiness but slowly, I can see, she is beginning to understand our good intention.


I personally feel that without all these, we could survive during our study time, I am sure, now its still the same. Don't convince me times has changed, technology has changed. Yes, technology is meant to help us, like the search engines, online informations we can find easily. I admit all these are useful tools for learning, but not msn, facebook, blog and tweeter.

So I am right, all these can be quite addictive.

[kuzco]

Fairy:

Last year, I had the same problem with my ds. He was on msn a lot and spent more time chatting than on his work. There were some tension between us as a result of my constant reminder for him to reduce his \"msn time''. After a while, I gave up checking on his online activities.

This year, it's my dd's turn. :x She was on facebook the whole Dec holidays, chatting, mousehunting & farming....Thinking that she'll stop when she starts her sec sch this year, I let her be. Til now, she still spends a lot of time online everday! :x Now she spends her time chatting online & messaging on the Hphone with her primary as well as sec sch friends.

I would be very grateful if any parents can share with me how to set limits to our teenagers' online activities without getting into a 'war of words' with them and straining the parent-child relationship while maintaining our parental authority.

Hi Fairy. Yes, it has been a war of words and tension in the air since school started. How have your ds and dd been doing in their school work so far?

My thinking is that if they are able to produce results (in their school work), then I will let it be. However, if grades suffer, then something must be done. However, ds always says that he is multi-tasking. He needs his msn because he is discussing with his classmates over school work or project. He says he needs youtube because he wants to listen to music while working. As for facebook, I believe he is justing kaypohing around to see what others are doing. :rant:

I have warned ds already that if his grades were to suffer in his mid-year exams, my last resort would be to block facebook and youtube on his notebook.

Any other parents got any advice?

[westmom]

Fairy:

kuzco:

I'm so glad to know that I am not the only one having to prod and remind ds about his school work. We are still trying to adjust to the new schedule. CCAs have not been finalised yet and it is still quite difficult to see how the eventual outcome will be. Hopefully CCA does not clash with his tuition too.

My ds does his work on his notebook and when left alone, he will be having Youtube, facebook and msn and homework all going at the same time. :stupid: :frustrated: :x I have to keep a close watch on him every few minutes to make sure he is actually doing his work.

Last year, I had the same problem with my ds. He was on msn a lot and spent more time chatting than on his work. There were some tension between us as a result of my constant reminder for him to reduce his \"msn time''. After a while, I gave up checking on his online activities.

This year, it's my dd's turn. :x She was on facebook the whole Dec holidays, chatting, mousehunting & farming....Thinking that she'll stop when she starts her sec sch this year, I let her be. Til now, she still spends a lot of time online everday! :x Now she spends her time chatting online & messaging on the Hphone with her primary as well as sec sch friends.

I would be very grateful if any parents can share with me how to set limits to our teenagers' online activities without getting into a 'war of

words' with them and straining the parent-child relationship while maintaining our parental authority.

I think being \"prepared\" works for me. I've been warned by many of the negative effects of facebook/online chatting/games/hp msg on their lives (including academic aspects). I bring up all these worries/concerns (with stories of others ..to show dd how bad such influences are & consequences) and therefore I inform her that I need to take measure as \"responsible\" mother to curb such activies. I sought her understanding. After PSLE, I allowed her freely to play, facebooking and chat but I already pre-warned her beforehand that non-sch related activities on computer/hp will taken away when Sec 1 school starts. This makes it easier to implement when the time comes. I told her that the hp is only for emergencies use (& I can track because technology is very advance) and all other communications with friends and classmates must be done through the house phone (no hp) and within reasonable time during her breaks. During hols, we agree that such priviledges will be given back to her but only after she does all necessary hw and will be limited to certain duration only. So far she has not protested because some of her friends had similar \"treatment\" too from their parents.

[daisyt]

Westmom, you are doing it so right with min conflict. :celebrate: