Exams

My eleven year old son came home with a 93 on his science exam. "I didn't even study." he bragged. "Don't you have two exams tomorrow?" I asked.
"I do. But I don't need to study."

Okay. Now, I'm annoyed. Game on kid.

He's smart, not wise. I nudged Peter. Peter's his older brother. He runs track, and currently runs a 5.03 mile. He pulled up his stats on the computer, knocked his younger brother on the head and said, "Imagine how much slower I'd be if I didn't train." He scrolled through his schedule.  My other son remained unconvinced.

"So you're not happy with a 93?" he asked.
"No. The 93 is fine. I'm not happy you didn't study."

"Hey Mom! Can I have a dollar? I want to buy ice cream at lunch tomorrow." I handed him 93 cents.
"Har-de-har-har."

He ran to grab his DS.
"Don't save your game. Just play until you die." I said.
"Why?"

"Because you don't need to practice, you can just slide by. You know, you'll probably get through all but 7 percent of the stuff."
"Yeah...but..." He rolled his eyes. "But I'm good enough. I'll get B's without trying."

"Yeah. You know what? I just want you to get that you can get through life without trying, without effort, but nothing worth doing gets done without effort. Want some ice cream?"

"Yes!"
I took out the sugar, vanilla, whole milk and Hershey's syrup.
"Here you go. It's 93% of the way there, all the ingredients, no effort."

He made hot chocolate. My smarty Mom life lesson wasn't working like I planned.

I turned off the Wi-fi. "Give me the DS."
"But Mom!"
"I want you to study. I want you to give more than the least you can. 40 minutes for each subject exam."

"Why?"
"Because right now I'm giving you 93% of my capacity as Mom. You don't want to wake or bother the other 7%. That part's mean."

He opened his books. I set the timer. I think I just passed my midterm.