"Mom, I can't do this." My teenage son Bret stood in front of me with his hands full of papers. "Can't do what?" I asked while preparing supper. "All these!" he waved his hands up and down. "There's no way I can do everything my teachers are asking me to do." I stopped what I was doing and turned to face him. I had never seen him so upset. He was my jovial son. He made good grades in school and nothing ever seemed to bother him. As I studied his face, I could see his eyes filled with tears. Walking over to the kitchen table, I sat down and asked him to join me. "Show me what you have to do ." Bret sat down in a chair and dropped the papers in front of him. "Mr. Jones, my chemistry teacher, wants me to make a project for the Science Fair." "Okay , And what else?" "I have an algebra test next week, and that will be one-third of our grade this school term!" "And I have to write an English essay. And midterms are the next week! I need to study for them and I have to get help with Spanish. There's no way I can do everything!" His hands shook as he picked up each assignment. It broke my heart to see him so stressed out. I wanted to help him, yet I couldn't do the work for him. I looked at Bret and said. "You don't have to do everything at once. You can do one at a time. Let's make a list of what you need to do." So, one by one, we listed each item. Then we put the due date next to the item. Next we separated the items into parts. For instance, the chemistry project needed supplies. So we put a deadline on getting the supplies. He had a friend who could help him with Spanish, so we had to put that time in. During the process, I saw my son visibly relax. When we finished with the list, I asked, "Do you think you can do this now?" He smiled and I saw his confidence return . "Sure! Thanks, Mom!" There is a saying that asks, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is, "One bite at a time." Why was Bret so upset?
He had quarreled with his chemistry teacher. He was poor in many of his school subjects. The algebra test would be too difficult for him. He felt helpless with the huge amount of school work.