two for my family

Yesterday I managed to get my other paper proposal written and that professor wrote back to approve it too. Both proposals are approved so I can begin writing. I also phoned the invigilator to make arrangements to write my final exam at the end of the month. They have to get back to me on that, but at least the process is underway. Having done those two important things, off I went to drive little J and her friends to see "Kung Fu Panda", a ridiculous movie about a panda bear who wants to be, and is ultimately selected to be, the greatest kung fu artist in China. I'm not sure it was worth the $4 for me, but little J enjoyed it, so that's good enough for me.

This morning I've been working on my second counselling skills assignment, another one in which I must interview someone while demonstrating my ability to use specific questioning techniques, summarizing skills, and reflecting abilities. I find these assignments frustrating and awkward because I want to use my own personal "style" of approach rather than the ones out of the textbook, but I do understand why it's important to prove the ability to use the skills that have been proven effective. I guess that when I have a better grasp on the techniques they won't seem so unnatural. I hope to finish this assignment by Friday so that I can work on the term papers next week. It would be ideal to finish both courses by the end of July giving me August to be free from course work and to have more time to spend with little J and to enjoy the holiday.

I am concerned, at least to some degree, about the way in which she relates to her mother. Her mom calls every evening to say goodnight and I am sort of disturbed by the way they talk, as though they are both eleven instead of mother and daughter. In some ways it makes perfect sense - that C would be the ideal playmate for an eleven year old because her emotional maturity seems to have stalled out at about that age - and at the same time it somewhat alarms me because this is exactly the reason C has had such problems being a good mother in the first place. It's more fun to sleep in than to get up in time to send your child to school. It's more fun to stay up late watching movies than to go to bed early enough to get enough sleep. It's more fun to eat candy and chips for dinner than to cook. It's more fun to leave the dishes around the house growing mould than to wash them. It's more fun to let the cat box overflow than to clean it. And so forth. Ignoring the drug issues completely, being an adult just isn't something C has taken to. I understand her desire to shirk all responsibility and live this way - I think everyone in the world probably does - but wanting it and doing it are different. And I'm scared that rehab, assuming she sticks with it, can't fix whatever else is broken.

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