I'll Do It Myself!

My nephew says his version of that all the time.  It usually comes out something like, "I do it!" or "I dood is myself!"  But he's 3 and learning to exercise his independence, and I kind of expect that to dwindle in the near future.

Only to be picked up again by the time he's Noah's age.  Enter first major project of middle school.  Not only does he have to write his lab report, he needs to do research, create (or find) an appropriate experiment, DO the experiment TWICE, create a graph, then analyze his data.  And he's being stubborn.  Kids will do as little as they can possibly get away with, but they often overestimate that limit.  You don't think I'll notice that you don't understand what you wrote?  Fermentation?  Leavening?  How should I know those are important terms?

So, he's dragging his feet.  A large part of his research came not from the internet, but from books I borrowed for him from the library.  That's where he found the experiment upon which his is based, and that's where he learned about the need for a control group.  But after a particularly frustrating patch, he yells at me, "Fine!  I'll do it myself!" So, like any mature adult, I replied, "Okay, then give me back my library books!"

That'll show him, right?  That'll teach him to mess with the bull.

As you can imagine, I don't feel triumphant.  I feel petty.  Charlie's response to Noah's outburst was, "That's what you're supposed to be doing, anyway!"  And he's right.  It's because I'm "helping" that Noah is relying so heavily on me.  I'm doing more showing than guiding, which is usually fine in very small amounts, but I'm not doing him any favors today.

The books are now lying in a heap on the floor of the living room and Noah's hiding in his room.  I don't know what he's doing or what he could possibly be doing without these books or a computer, and I'm DYING to find out.  But I need him to approach me, not only to admit he was wrong and apologize, but to also give him an actual chance to do it on his own.  He might just surprise me.