How Do You Eat An Elephant?

Mark, What do I do when I've issued the 3-day-discipline (e.g., for violating curfew), but then my son creates a new problem before completing the discipline (e.g., calls me a "bitch", then breaks a plate by throwing it in the sink too hard)? Do I start the 3 days over even though the "broken plate episode" is unrelated to the curfew violation, or does this new problem get a different consequence?

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He has received F's in most of his core subjects...

My son is all set on graduating the eighth grade tomorrow but has received F's in most of his core subjects (Math, language and social studies) my husband and I are wondering if we should allow our child to graduate or should we petition the school for him to be retained, hopefully so that he will do a better job academically this time realizing he will need to do some work in order to pass. If we want to petition the school it must be done today otherwise it is a done deal. What should we do, we don't want our child to be ill prepared for high school and therefore get overwhelmed and drop out? Please give us your professional opinion!
B.O.

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I'm not a proponent for holding children back due to bad grades. It has been my experience that grades tend not improve the second time through. If poor academic performance has been a problem for several months now -- and if it is a constant source of parent-child conflict, then please follow the recommendation in the eBook ("Emails From Exasperated Parents": online version).

Mark

www.MyOutOfControlTeen.com