A couple of quandaries have come regarding my children, neither one issues I thought I would have to be dealing with so soon.
First, my daughter Katie. She’s in the first grade. Yesterday as we were getting ready for school, I asked her if she wanted to buy or take lunch. She said she’d buy and mumbled something about her friend Ally. When I asked her to elaborate, she refused to say anything but after pressing the thumbscrews to her, she finally talked. Apparently her friend Ally finishes lunch first and makes Katie stop eating and go play. I told Katie she is to finish her lunch whether her friend is done or not. This little girl was in Katie’s class last year and I’m not real keen on her. I was hoping the friendship would fade since they were in different classes. I talked to her teacher about the situation and her teacher is adamant that Katie not hang around with this girl. She is playing with older kids and they have already gotten in trouble with the principal. So we are going to work together to steer her towards other children. I’m not sure why Katie is so enamored with this kid. I do not find her very pleasant. Last year, when they cleaned out this child’s cubby, they found a bunch of Katie’s stuff in it. Katie is so naïve, she couldn’t understand how it got there. The next step her teacher is going to try is to tell her who she needs to sit with at lunch. Katie is only five so in some ways she is easily bossed around. She loves her teacher so I’m hoping she will follow her teacher’s directives.
I really didn’t think I was going to have to deal with “bad kids” until jr. high. But my concern is Katie will pick up the behaviors of these other girls. She’s a handful as it is. Any ideas on what I should do?
The second isn’t really as serious, but I think I need to do something. My son brought home a book yesterday called Solar Eclipse by John Farris. This book was in his classroom, one of his teacher’s books. It’s a suspense novel for adults. The subject matter is pretty violent but what most concerned me was the language. The swearing is bad and uses language one would read in an Ellora’s Cave book. Now, he has heard this language from his mother, screamed through the house, so he doesn’t seem to notice it. He is half way through the book, so it might be too late to take it away from him (it is a suspense novel, it would kind of suck to take it away before he found out the end). But I think I should bring it to his teacher’s attention. I’m not upset and I have no interest in making a stink about it. But some other parent may. BTW, my son is in 4th grade, the class is a 4th-5th-6th combo class.
Again, any ideas of what I should do would be appreciated.
Odds & Ends…..
Katie and my husband were sore for a few days after the accident but it seems to have dissipated. The car isn’t so lucky. The estimate to repair it is over $6500 but they think they will have it back to us before the end of the month. We’re guessing that really means the end of November, right when the rains start.
Hubby bought me a new washer and dryer. Mine are fine, but this is a stackable unit that went upstairs so I’m not carting laundry up and down the staircase. I’m hoping the bratlings will learn to do their own wash within the next year.
