Kids lie. If you've ever had any or been around any for more than a couple of hours that were older than 4, you should be completely aware of this fact. I mean, many adults lie too, but I don't think a single kid went from birth to age 18 without ever lying once. Its just not possible. I think the heavens would fall if it happened.
The thing about lying kids though is that it means you have to be an involved parent. Because kids lie, you can't assume that your kid is actually doing their schoolwork. You have to check. Many parents seem astounded on open house night to find out from their kid's teachers that they're beautiful, precious, genius child isn't doing so hot in some of their classes. With many of today's school systems having online grade viewing applications, that your child isn't getting good grades may not be so much of a surprise on open house night, but its still probably a shock to see that they didn't turn in an assignment or two or they failed a test they told you they studied for if you are the type of parent who just doesn't bother to pay attention to your kid outside of the times you're yelling at them to stop inconveniencing your life by making you run late or getting in your way around the house.
We have an open binder policy in our house, which means that whenever we parents feel like it, we will open your binder and verify that your work is all done. We also have very open and frequent email communication with many of our children's teachers to make sure they are on top of their shit by assuring we are on top of ours (aka being parents by paying attention to our kids).
It annoys me to no end to see parents taken by surprise by things they should have known. This is not to say that my kids never get away with stuff (at least for awhile) or that my husband and I are never caught off guard by one or another kid's actions. That's just not a possibility. However, when it comes to things like grades, school stuff, where they are at a given moment, their plans for the evening, etc, we pretty much know what's going on, sometimes even more so than they do. Its not uncommon for me to inform one of the kids that they failed a test and need to remediate it when they haven't even received it back from their teacher yet.
Its very inconvenient some evenings to take the time to look through everyone's stuff and/or talk to them all about what's going on with school and other things since the day is only so long and there are anywhere from 4-6 children in our home at a time (my step-kids aren't usually over here these days), but its a priority. Sometimes things slip through the cracks and we beat ourselves up about that, but we get over it, and try to do better in the future. We know that we're gonna miss things occasionally, but that doesn't give us an excuse not to try.
If your going to have children, whether by impregnating someone or by becoming impregnated (a lecture for another time is that surrounding sex) or by adopting a child or however you became the parental figure for a minor, you automatically give up your right to be selfish, unmotivated and inattentive. Despite the inconvenience of it, despite how difficult it is, despite how much you have to push yourself and your wants and needs aside for a period of 18 or so years, you stuck yourself in this situation and you can either be a shitty parent by maintaining the right to be those things I just listed or you can be a good parent. And part of being a good parent is not only being attentive and motivated and selfless, and loving, but also to have a good attitude about it.
Children are not children forever. Whether your decision to become a parent was conscious or unconscious (see comment above about a lecture for another time), if you are going to be a good one, you might as well realize that, though you must give up much of yourself for quite awhile to help your child (or children) grow to their maximum potential, this phase will not consume your entire life. You will have time to be what you want and if your parents were good parents as well then you already had some of that opportunity, to be your best, when you were growing up. Keep a positive attitude and hope for a long life so that you'll have more time to do what you want once your kids are grown. And most of all, get over yourself, in every sense of that phrase, Your kids need you to do exactly that.
