All I could hear running through my mind was Bill Cosby saying, "Because he is brain-damaged!" There can be no other reason why my otherwise smart son informs me today that he didn't do the French project (that was due today) because he forgot! Last week I began to ease up on checking his assignment notebook and verifying his assignments on the school web - and to my dismay, he has slipped again - now, during the last week of the grading period!

My husband sent me an article yesterday from Time.com and Science Magazine - and the whole point of the article was that the adolescent's brain truly has a different chemical make-up; it is set up to function in a way that would make sense to early mankind - under stress. There are many synapses functioning in order to increase the early (read: neanderthal) teenager's chance of survival; in fact the article goes on to say, as we mature, our brain kills off these extra synapses, allowing us to focus on matters needing more deep thought.

So, my son is fully prepared to be running across the grasslands seeking food and avoiding being eaten himself - the stress of those situations will utilize his brain power appropriately. However, due to this, his brain doesn't function so well in the traditional classroom situation. This fight or flight mentality applied to homework means "I forgot I had to do it!"

I guess I'll keep waiting for the synapses to die off. Shouldn't be long now. Maybe i'll send him out to hunt for dinner. That ought to use those extra synapses!