I AM That Kid...Whoa.
Talking to Mom today...telling her about this week and the fact that it has been tough with the kids, I had a sudden and very vivid realization.
I AM "that" kid.
I was telling Mom about the Great Girl Scout Cookie Debacle of 2013 (no, not the fact that we personally had to purchase 40 boxes of cookies to meet Annika's goal). No--yesterday I went to school to have lunch with Josiah. Here we are, right across the street and I rarely go over and have lunch with them. Annika forgot her lunch on Monday, so I delivered it to her and Will and I stayed with our lunchboxes and ate. She was so amazingly overjoyed to see us and obviously pleased to show her brother and mommy off (well, who wouldn't be am I right?), that I decided to do it for Josiah as well.
I brought a box of the cookies along because if I eat them, I don't stop at one. Or 20. Pretty soon, the Thin Mints are gone and I have a chocolate mustache and an upset stomach. Anyway, I've got to get rid of the dang things.
I brought the cookies thinking "Oh, la, what a cool mom am I to show up for lunch AND bring a little treat for the kids in the class"? Totally upping Josiah's street cred, you know? The kids all settled in and ate up and when people were done(ish), I went around and handed out one cookie to each kid. Recall--I brought one box and there are something like 28 kids in Josiah's class.
Everyone is very pleased with the little surprise. One girl comes up and asks me for another. I sagely explain that I don't have enough to go around twice. She doesn't take no for an answer. She badgers, she cajoles, she pouts. I explain that it's not fair to give her one but not her classmates. Really, I am a paragon of virtue. Then I tell her to sit down in her seat before she gets in trouble.
Cut. End scene? No. I left a couple of minutes later and apparently, Little Miss Give Me Another Cookie pitched a fit of hysterics over my refusal to give her another cookie, was talking smack about me being mean, etc. and ended up getting the entire table in trouble. They got the red cone, people. The red cone of ultimate shame. They couldn't go out for recess.
And Josiah was upset because this girl was saying mean things about me to everyone. Not to mention, the no recess.
(Aside: Really, really secretly happy that Josiah wants to defend me, since most days lately, it seems like he'd rather push me in front of a bus).
I had no idea what occurred until I picked them up and Josiah explained to me. No biggie, I can take a trash-talking 9-year-old. Whatever. I did e-mail their teacher to explain what happened and she responded back that she would deal with it and to please come back to lunch any time. I should send her a box of Girl Scout cookies.
The point of this whole story is this: this little girl has been giving Josiah grief all school year. She gets in trouble almost every day and she's even spent time down in the principal's office...in short, she's got a few issues.
But talking to Mom, I had a sudden remembrance of my own time in the principal's office or standing out in the hall or having to put my head down on my desk in elementary school.
Oh crap...was I that kid?
Now that I write this and think it over, I know that I wasn't THAT terrible. OK, I got in trouble. A few times. I had trouble listening and following directions. I had a couple of math teachers that I drove bonkers, to the point of calling a conference (Mr. Miller, remember, Mom?). I had to be talked to by the guidance counselor once in middle school because I wasn't getting along with my gym teacher (Ms. Maire, remember, Mom?). She gave me detention ALL the time. In the third grade, I remember getting in trouble because we were talking about camels and I did my camel demonstration by spitting on the desk in front of me...because, you know, camels spit. Makes perfect sense, right? I had detention from the Home Ec teacher for goofing around in class. I know I was sent to the principal's office in high school too, though I don't remember why. (Mom?)
Wow, it was just a lightning bolt for me. Maybe, I shouldn't act superior about this little girl when talking to my own son because I was her, back in the day.
Humbling. Motherhood is so damn humbling. I'm surprised I have any ego left whatsoever.
Signed--
The Naughty Student
I AM "that" kid.
I was telling Mom about the Great Girl Scout Cookie Debacle of 2013 (no, not the fact that we personally had to purchase 40 boxes of cookies to meet Annika's goal). No--yesterday I went to school to have lunch with Josiah. Here we are, right across the street and I rarely go over and have lunch with them. Annika forgot her lunch on Monday, so I delivered it to her and Will and I stayed with our lunchboxes and ate. She was so amazingly overjoyed to see us and obviously pleased to show her brother and mommy off (well, who wouldn't be am I right?), that I decided to do it for Josiah as well.
I brought a box of the cookies along because if I eat them, I don't stop at one. Or 20. Pretty soon, the Thin Mints are gone and I have a chocolate mustache and an upset stomach. Anyway, I've got to get rid of the dang things.
I brought the cookies thinking "Oh, la, what a cool mom am I to show up for lunch AND bring a little treat for the kids in the class"? Totally upping Josiah's street cred, you know? The kids all settled in and ate up and when people were done(ish), I went around and handed out one cookie to each kid. Recall--I brought one box and there are something like 28 kids in Josiah's class.
Everyone is very pleased with the little surprise. One girl comes up and asks me for another. I sagely explain that I don't have enough to go around twice. She doesn't take no for an answer. She badgers, she cajoles, she pouts. I explain that it's not fair to give her one but not her classmates. Really, I am a paragon of virtue. Then I tell her to sit down in her seat before she gets in trouble.
Cut. End scene? No. I left a couple of minutes later and apparently, Little Miss Give Me Another Cookie pitched a fit of hysterics over my refusal to give her another cookie, was talking smack about me being mean, etc. and ended up getting the entire table in trouble. They got the red cone, people. The red cone of ultimate shame. They couldn't go out for recess.
And Josiah was upset because this girl was saying mean things about me to everyone. Not to mention, the no recess.
(Aside: Really, really secretly happy that Josiah wants to defend me, since most days lately, it seems like he'd rather push me in front of a bus).
I had no idea what occurred until I picked them up and Josiah explained to me. No biggie, I can take a trash-talking 9-year-old. Whatever. I did e-mail their teacher to explain what happened and she responded back that she would deal with it and to please come back to lunch any time. I should send her a box of Girl Scout cookies.
The point of this whole story is this: this little girl has been giving Josiah grief all school year. She gets in trouble almost every day and she's even spent time down in the principal's office...in short, she's got a few issues.
But talking to Mom, I had a sudden remembrance of my own time in the principal's office or standing out in the hall or having to put my head down on my desk in elementary school.
Oh crap...was I that kid?
Now that I write this and think it over, I know that I wasn't THAT terrible. OK, I got in trouble. A few times. I had trouble listening and following directions. I had a couple of math teachers that I drove bonkers, to the point of calling a conference (Mr. Miller, remember, Mom?). I had to be talked to by the guidance counselor once in middle school because I wasn't getting along with my gym teacher (Ms. Maire, remember, Mom?). She gave me detention ALL the time. In the third grade, I remember getting in trouble because we were talking about camels and I did my camel demonstration by spitting on the desk in front of me...because, you know, camels spit. Makes perfect sense, right? I had detention from the Home Ec teacher for goofing around in class. I know I was sent to the principal's office in high school too, though I don't remember why. (Mom?)
Wow, it was just a lightning bolt for me. Maybe, I shouldn't act superior about this little girl when talking to my own son because I was her, back in the day.
Humbling. Motherhood is so damn humbling. I'm surprised I have any ego left whatsoever.
Signed--
The Naughty Student
