It's no secret that I have a strange fascination with webcams. So friends and family probably weren't surprised when I told them about the one that I set up at home. Primarily it is used to keep an eye on Rece during the time period he's home after school, before I get home. He knows that it is there and can tell when it is on (the blue light on it turns on when it is active).
Aside from doing his chores when he gets home (which take less than 15 minutes or so to do), Rece has been told that he must do his homework in the living room on the sofa, which is where the webcam is set up to capture. I have informed him that his mother and I (and sometimes our friends, too) will be checking the cam to make sure he's doing his homework and not goofing off.
Of course we can't just sit at our jobs and stare at him to make sure he's staying on task, but we do check in from time to time. Occasionally we see him goofing off instead of doing his homework, and in some cases, we don't see him on the webcam at all - which is against the rules (except in regards to the aforementioned chores or when he goes to the can). At these moments we'll give him a call and remind him to get back on task.
The system seems to be working rather well now. In fact, it may be that Rece has become a bit too accustomed to the webcam being there to the point that he forgets about it completely. Why do I suspect this? Well, it may have something to do with what I caught him doing today.
While checking the webcam, I noticed that Rece wasn't doing his homework, despite having been home for over 45 minutes. Since chores and bathroom don't take him that long, I gave him a call. As it turns out, he was messing around with his hair to improve upon the style it was done in for the "Wacky Wednesday" theme at school today. I reminded him that playing around wasn't what he was supposed to be doing and that he had to "un-do" his hair, then get on to doing his homework. He acknowledged my directive and this was the result...
He did this while I was still waiting on the line. The sounds of struggle he must have been going through to remove the stuff he put in his hair were so funny, it was all I could do to keep from bursting into laughter. In fact, I did let out a few snickers, which garnered the attention of the two coworkers outside my office door. After the struggle, he returned to the sofa and started on his homework assignments.
About an hour later I checked back in on him, and was happy to see that he was on the sofa, doing his homework... wait... what the...
As you can see, he was up to his elbow doing something other than homework. This activity continuted for at least 2-3 minutes before I could stomach it no longer - I called him again. "That has got to be the most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time, dude!" I chided. "What? Oh... uh... sorry," he replied, as he glanced into the webcam, realizing what I must have meant. With a gentle reminder that he was still on the webcam and that searching for buried treasure wasn't part of his homework duties, he went back to work.
Aside from doing his chores when he gets home (which take less than 15 minutes or so to do), Rece has been told that he must do his homework in the living room on the sofa, which is where the webcam is set up to capture. I have informed him that his mother and I (and sometimes our friends, too) will be checking the cam to make sure he's doing his homework and not goofing off.
Of course we can't just sit at our jobs and stare at him to make sure he's staying on task, but we do check in from time to time. Occasionally we see him goofing off instead of doing his homework, and in some cases, we don't see him on the webcam at all - which is against the rules (except in regards to the aforementioned chores or when he goes to the can). At these moments we'll give him a call and remind him to get back on task.
The system seems to be working rather well now. In fact, it may be that Rece has become a bit too accustomed to the webcam being there to the point that he forgets about it completely. Why do I suspect this? Well, it may have something to do with what I caught him doing today.
While checking the webcam, I noticed that Rece wasn't doing his homework, despite having been home for over 45 minutes. Since chores and bathroom don't take him that long, I gave him a call. As it turns out, he was messing around with his hair to improve upon the style it was done in for the "Wacky Wednesday" theme at school today. I reminded him that playing around wasn't what he was supposed to be doing and that he had to "un-do" his hair, then get on to doing his homework. He acknowledged my directive and this was the result...
He did this while I was still waiting on the line. The sounds of struggle he must have been going through to remove the stuff he put in his hair were so funny, it was all I could do to keep from bursting into laughter. In fact, I did let out a few snickers, which garnered the attention of the two coworkers outside my office door. After the struggle, he returned to the sofa and started on his homework assignments.
About an hour later I checked back in on him, and was happy to see that he was on the sofa, doing his homework... wait... what the...
This entry was brought to you by Big Brother - he really is watching you.
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