2021 Started with a Scream: What Flipped My Son's Switch

New Year's Eve, 2020.

My 6th-grade son was immersed in the countdown event for the game "Fortnite" that had just begun.

10, 9, 8...

I sat next to him, holding my breath as we watched the game screen together.

7, 6...

The vibrant fireworks display on the Switch screen was beautiful.

5, 4...

My wife and three daughters were watching the annual Johnny's Countdown!
Both my wife's and my expectations were at their peak!

What's going to happen? What's going to happen?

3!

2!

1!

IT'S HEEEEEEERE!!

Waaaaaaaah!

As soon as the New Year arrived, the Switch parental controls kicked in, and 2021 began with a scream.

I hadn't thought that far ahead and felt bad for what happened, but he likely became the first elementary school student in Japan to cry that year.

What kind of year did 2021 turn out to be for him after such a tumultuous start?

The Last Bastion

Because his older sisters in 9th and 7th grade are so responsible, he unfortunately gets compared to them, but he was a bit of a troublemaker who lived up to the saying 'ill weeds grow apace' with his wild behavior.

I was a mischievous kid myself, so I can't really say much about my son, but I did want to do something about the right side of his report card at least once during his six years of elementary school.

The right side of the report card is what they call the record of behavior.

It covers basic conduct in group settings, tidiness, and other things I want him to master while he's still young. Unfortunately, since the first grade, there hasn't been a single term without a needs improvement mark.

He isn't unintelligent, and he is a truly kind boy. It's just that he's the type of problem child who lacks common sense, can't read the room, and doesn't know when to stop once he gets carried away, which caused his teachers a lot of trouble.

My wife checked his homework and belongings every day, telling him to at least take care of his personal things, but whenever he managed to do one thing, he would inevitably forget another.

His level of forgetfulness was off the charts. Once, when we thought he had prepared everything perfectly, he went to school forgetting his backpack...

According to the teacher who looked after him from the fifth grade, he was the
“last bastion of mischievous kids”.

What flipped the switch

But the teacher never gave up on him, saying, “He is just taking

small steps. He is climbing the stairs slowly, so please continue to support him at home.”

He also continued to encourage us patiently.

One day, when my wife opened our son's backpack, she found this...

A strong message from the teacher that it's not that he can't do it, and that he should never give up.

Around this time, a change began to appear in his behavior.

When I went to check on his room late at night, I found him doing his homework in the dark.

“Whoa! What’s wrong? Why are you doing this at this hour?”

“I was praised a little... and I was so happy...”

He answered me while keeping his back turned, working his hands as hard as he could. A few days later, he showed me this with a huge smile on his face.

I will treasure this as a family heirloom.

The score was 99. What was he praised for?

The effort he put in. That was it. The teacher had been watching his process all along, saying that the results would follow later...

He hadn't been standing still; with the teacher pushing him from behind, he had been climbing up small steps one by one.

Perhaps we had been too focused on the results and failed to look at what was truly important.

Hop, step, jump.

Surprises continued, such as finding a cube-shaped mass of worksheets inside his locker during a class observation, but after the summer, he gradually became able to take care of his own things.

The presence of his younger brother in my womb might have also been a big factor. He was the one most looking forward to the birth. Along with the joy of becoming a big brother, a sense of responsibility must have sprouted.

In the second semester, after a while, he brought home a letter from his teacher.

It is all thanks to the teacher.

Moved, I also wrote a letter of gratitude that filled the stationery. When we actually met, the teacher rejoiced in my son's growth right along with us.

And then came Christmas.

He puffed out his chest more than ever before and placed this in front of me.

I did it all!

He had become able to think about those around him, not just himself, had become a leader in his class, and his academic ability had also improved dramatically.

Focus not on what you cannot do, but on what you can do and the process behind it.

The teacher taught us a perspective we want to cherish in both parenting and work.

I have nothing but gratitude for the teacher who helped him climb such a big staircase.

New Year's Eve.

“Is there a countdown event on Fortnite this year too? I’ll definitely turn off the parental controls this year, so play as much as you want.”

“I’m good now...”

His profile as he smiled with a shy expression looked a little more mature.

He will be a junior high student next year.
I am looking forward to seeing the growth of my son, whose switch has been flipped.