All of Didier's family got together on Sunday for a farewell lunch. We went to a restaurant in the mall in Lyon which had many french classics on the menu. I sat at the kids' table because I was most comfortable there. Also at my table was Antoine, Nicholas, the triplets, and Didier's god-daughters who are so sweet and super cool! We had a few things in common like the TV show Charmed so we bonded a bit. The other table had Didier's parents, his 3 oldest children, their girlfriends and boyfriend, Céline and Didier, and their best friends who lived in the area. We had a three-course lunch which is traditional in most french gatherings. I had salmon topped with a cream sauce as my entrée and shared some tiramisu with the girls for dessert.
After the meal, I went out to the car to feed Google some leftovers of the choucroute. I took her for a quick walk around the parking lot afterward then Léa, Camille and I explored the mall. We spent the majority of our time in Claire's even though they weren't allowed to buy anything. They were drawn to the really silly, gawdy jewelry and had no interest in the classic pieces I was showing them so I got bored. I talked them into walking into L'Occitane with me to browse the testers. These girls have obviously never been in a bath and body store before because they were absolutely ridiculous--nearly dropping 3 bottles of body spray. I tried to show them the proper way to test the products and that just totally blew up in my face. I was showing Camille how to spray perfume on the test strips while Léa told me to turn around. Once I did, she sprayed perfume right in my face! My eyes were burning so bad and I was so angry that I just walked out of the store and didn't say a thing to either one of them. Léa obviously knew I was mad because she was apologizing profusely. I told her that her saying sorry doesn't change what she did and how immature it was. She also asked if I was mad at her and I said "Ah mais, tu as quel âge?" (You are how old?) and she replied with 'Well, I'm ten,' which I then answered with 'Yes, I'm mad. You should know better' and just kept on walking. The girls followed me all the way back of course and I ignored them for the rest of the night. I always wondered why these kids were never taken to town. Now I have my answer, first-hand. As much as they irritated me, they still need to go out. It's the best way for someone to learn how to behave in the public eye. And keeping them at home is not going to teach them anything. If I do one thing for the kids this year, I'm going to teach them how to behave like civilized people in a store. I don't even care about how much english they learn anymore but that was just plain embarrassing in L'Occitane. You don't have to be super strict with kids because that's just going to drive them crazy later, but they need to know the basics of proper human interaction.
Monday was also kind of a bad day with the children. They were absolutely horrible when I picked them up from school and when we got home, Céline had a talk with them about their grades because they're not doing too well. Camille who has the 'best' grades has an A in English and a D+ in math...It's absolutely horrible that they're doing so horribly. They all argued with their mom about how well they're doing and she told them that it's a bad idea for them to lie because she gets calls from their schools all the time. I don't even know how they even learned to lie. If my parents ever asked me anything, I almost always told them the truth even if I'd get in trouble. It'd be way worse if I lied and I found that out early on...Because they always find out! I was spanked for everything so I tried not to make life harder on myself, lol.
The discussion over grades turned into a huge scream fest, ick. Honestly, I'm so disappointed with the children because their lives are so easy compared to other children--especially compared to my own childhood. I was doing laundry and cooking by myself when I was their age. I always did my homework without my parents asking me to. But I knew and I understood that there would be consequences at school and then at home if I didn't do well. These kids don't really understand that, but the only consequence they suffer is a stern talking-to and maybe no TV. Times have certainly changed.
I try my best to help the children understand how important school work is but they're not getting the gist of it and keep telling me that these grades won't matter later. This may be true but it's important for them to learn how to motivate themselves and learn HOW to learn. Sorry for saying it like this but this shit is not gonna fly when they're older. I know that because I've already been through high school and college and known people that have failed. And it's not only failing at making the grade, but kind of failing at life in general. If you don't learn how to do the easy things well, then the hard stuff is just simply harder.
I at least try to help them get their homework done. I always ask them if they need help and they either say that they have none or quickly do the minimum and never review. I've tried getting their homework schedule but that never works out either. What else am I doing here if I'm not here to help them? Camille was bragging about how brilliant she was so I decided to put up 8 math problems on the dry erase board. Fractions, decimals, multiplication, you name it. She did them all within 10 minutes and of course, she got half of them wrong. So I told her, 'so you weren't telling the truth then.' She just chuckled and I walked out of the room. I probably rolled my eyes as well.
Mom put the kids in bed around 21h00 and they stayed up until about 23h00. I take that back. Baptiste was a good example and passed right out with Gregoire in the next bed. He at least understands that if he doesn't get any sleep then he'll be tired the next day. Camille stayed up and sang for the entire two hours--very badly I must add while Léa repeatedly told her to shut up. Camille's been obsessed with Adele ever since my Thanksgiving party where this little girl put on an impressive Adele show for us. I saw this an an opportunity for her to take on some more english so I gave her the lyrics to her favorite Adele songs. Not only has she lost them, but she didn't study them at all. She continues to sing "Rolling in the Deep" with "Dee duh dee duh deeeeEEEeeeiiii." It irritates me, being someone who was in choir from age 7 to 18 who learned the ins and outs of music. I just can't stand it when someone obsessively 'sings' a song they don't even know the words to. It's like Céline says "C'est null." I told Camille that she annoyed me, but she continues to NOT learn the lyrics to the song. It just doesn't sound pretty. Maybe this is just me being a control freak, but I just think that if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right...I think I might just be expecting too much but I can't talk myself out of it...
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