Seijitsu and Soumei are FINALLY finished with their Family Life badges.  I say "finally" because it's been over a year since they opened them.  Yes, a year.  Why?

I've asked that myself a hundred times.  True, there's  90-day chore chart requirement.  So what.  In our household, they're all doing chores every day anyway.  That should have been a breeze.  I think it's the projects that took so long.  Not the doing, mind you, but the thinking.  "I don't know what to do for a project."  "Look around, open your eyes.  There are a million things that need done around here."  Auggh!   Sometimes boys make me want to scream.

They finally settled on what to do for their projects, then it was actually getting to them.  The merit badges are THEIR doing; I don't want to become the pushy parent -- even if it costs me tons in dental bills from gritting my teeth.  Seiji painted his bedroom.  It looks great.  Not exactly what I would've done, but not black, either.  Together, we put up a closet pole and shelf, and thus far they haven't fallen down.   Soumei redid the front bathroom.  Painted the walls and the trim, put up a new mirror, and took some of the extra grout off the floor.  For the family project, we detailed my father's car.  The detailing cost more than the bathroom once we added in all the cleaning products, but it was worth it.  The inside looks like new.

I think another of the sticking points for this was the 'family meeting'.  I suppose this has benefit for families that are going a dozen different directions and rarely see each other.  For those of us that are together pretty much 24/7, it seemed silly. Especially when the requirements state to include substance abuse and premarital relations.  "Don't do it."  That was about the extent.  For the first, the kids already know about good choices.  For the second, none of us felt that a family meeting with adults and children, boys and girls, was the proper place to discuss this at length.  Fortunately, our merit badge counselor agreed, and she was willing to sign it off on our word that it had been discussed in private.  They fulfilled the letter of the law by discussing that it should be discussed in private.  They fulfilled the spirit of the law by actually having those discussions.

With the family meetings over, the badges are DONE.  Finished.  Moved from the "in progress" portions of their notebooks to the "waiting for signatures" area.  This has been the longest one yet.  The boys said they enjoyed the badge.  It wasn't drudgery, even though it took a long time.  It didn't have to takea year, but the get up and go is something they're growing into.  Slowly.  As in molasses.

Seiji says it is a relief to have it done.  Amazing how much a little blue piece of paper can weigh.  He's gotten a little smarter from it, and started a few of the others that take a long time - Sports and Personal Management.  More on them later.