Witness: proofreading and editing a third-grade report on grey wolves, with the author on my lap, and she's feeling sassy. ... I understand that this is a third-grade paper, but there are things that are just wrong, no matter what.
You can't start a paragraph talking about "wolf" singular, and then switch to "wolves" plural in the very next sentence. Keep the information ordered and organized. Spaces go after the commas, not before. Double spacing is important, so the teacher can read the information easily.
All these things are pretty normal, and should be quick fixes, but the SASSY AUTHOR wasn't having any of it. I had to go into full-on patient, calm, and "happy to explain a thousand times until you hear what I'm saying" mom mode. A couple times, she actually was all, "It's fine, she won't care about that." And I'm all, "I appreciate your saying that, but I can't have you turn this in like that. I have to sign off on this. It's not correct. Fix it."
We finished up the report, printed it out, and affixed the visual aid. After that, when all is done, she's all sweet and angelic and thankful telling me how much she loves me, and how great the report is, and that she's so happy we did it together. She's a sweetie. She even wanted to put my name on the title page after hers because I helped her.
She's super excited to turn it in tomorrow. I just hope her teacher is kind.
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