Dr. Laura:
I'm a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom to two children. We adopted our oldest when he was three days old. He has been a joy and I find him hilarious much of the time (he's 8 years old). He attends a charter school, where they stress good character, values, and morals. On Fridays, the students get a "character card" sent home with them for parents to review. There's a star sticker on the card if the child met the characteristics of a good student citizen that week. If the child didn't live up to those, there's a mark in red on the days that didn't happen.
My son handed his card with two red marks on it over to me one Friday. He was upset and was hanging his head. I asked him calmly why he wasn't a responsible student on those two days that had red marks on them. He explained that he had not turned in some of his homework, and he knew it was his responsibility to do so, and he had just failed on those days. I knelt down in front of him and told him how proud I was of him. He looked confused, so I explained that although he wasn't responsible those days, he possessed and achieved all the other characteristics of a good student/citizen. He was honest, respectful, and more. He smiled from ear to ear and hugged me, then he said: "I'm going to try harder so that you don't have to call Dr. Laura on me!" He hasn't gotten a red mark on his card since.
Kelsey
