Parenting Outside the Box

Well, we made it to February before Buddy frustrated his teacher enough for her to call me.  I know he's been better than the previous two years.  Much better.  But I think making it this long is mostly a function of how relaxed and supportive his teacher is this year.  She has given him a very long leash.  Unfortunately, he is now friends with everyone in the class and he won't stop talking to them.  The teacher has rearranged the seating chart repeatedly and no matter who he sits by, he talks to them.  Luckily, his teacher didn't sound exhausted by him (like last year) and she said talking and not controlling his impulses is the worst of his infractions.

Her solution really endeared me to her even more than I already am.  She is going to talk to him about being the "class leader" and if he can work quietly without talking to anyone, she will let him take something to the office, organize something in the classroom, or let him "take a walk to run some sort of random errand around the school."  The awesome thing about that is I suggested this very solution in the letter I wrote her at the beginning of the year.  Either she's super smart, she remembered my suggestion from reading it 5 months ago, or she re-read my letter before she called me today.  Whichever one, I'm impressed. Buddy needs a responsibility yet it's hard to give him one because he isn't the type of kid you'd naturally pick out of the classroom as the "most responsible."  But giving him a job works.  I can't wait to hear how it goes.

In other news, Buddy had to write three essays this afternoon after school.  One was concerning the "family sleeping rules" because he got out of bed way too early this morning.  One concerning why spitting is disgusting because he and his brother had a "spitting war" for fun in the car while I was at the atm today (they were out of my sight for 90 seconds).  The car smelled like saliva when I got back in and their guilty faces totally gave it away.  The third essay was concerning his behavior at school and ideas he has for being a good leader rather than frustrating his teacher.

The spitting essay was the funniest, and last time I posted one of his essays I got some feedback to make this a regular feature on the blog.

(BTW-this essay idea I had = brilliant.  He has a large notebook almost full of essays he's written.  And each one is hilarious.  His ideas are always really clever and his writing mechanics are getting really good.)

"I have one essay to write and it will not be fun!  So let's get started okay?  I should not spit... Because it is gross and it is gross because it can make people sick and because it has germs and it comes from your mouth.  And because you can die from it if you don't cure your sickness.  And I am sorry that I spitted.  And that I did not have integrity. And I mean it like a ton of times.  And I am sorry for Sambo too... a lot.  And I hope Sambo is sorry for me too and I am a lot more than he is, if he is sorry.  Can you ask him?  Please?  That's okay if you don't.  I don't really need to know."