Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
He treed himself in Terror...
Apologies, this was supposed to have posted itself about a month ago, I'm posting it today (11/7/12)
So, The Boy. He's LOVING school, his teachers, his classmates, the bus - EVERYTHING. He's SO FREAKING HAPPY. :) So are we. Except...he's lost two lunch boxes already. Darth Dader didn't come home about two weeks ago now, and yesterday the Blue Pack-it that we'd borrowed for him from CW, that didn't come home either. w00t.
Anyway. He somehow got into trouble on the playground last week, not incidentally WHILE I was on school grounds helping out with Picture Day. The (male) Vice Principal was marching SG and another little boy back to their classrooms from his office, BARELY managing to conceal his grin from the boys. SG looked TERRIFIED when I saw him and gave him the Mom Look. VP came back after depositing them in their classrooms and explained that (I think) the boys had come to blows over something - as closely as he could tell, Optimus Prime had figured largely in the argument. But, the kicker was when SG retreated up into the playground equipment and wouldn't budge. From what SG owned up to later, and what I've seen him do, I have a feeling that however it started (it kind of sounds like they were simply playing), SG's (Idle) Hand got upset and whacked the other kid. I say it thusly because he KNOWS he's not to do that, but occasionally the impulse out-paces the CONTROL, and he's horrified over the situation after it happens. It's the physical version of, "Ack! I didn't mean to say that out loud!" He knows he wasn't supposed to do it, and knows that there's going to be a reckoning of some sort. Side note, most of us hear that with discipline we have to be consistent. With HIM, we've found that we have to be consistently INCONSISTENT. Or, unpredictable, as it were. So - he's never sure how bad it's going to be.
Back to the uncontrolled, escaped impulse - usually when he's had this happen and is aware of it, he beats himself up about it. Mom mentioned over the summer that he was smacking his forehead with his hand while explaining to her that, "his brain gets him in trouble," sometimes. Boy is fantastic at being pitiful - it really sucks being his parents at moments like that, because we feel so bad for him. At the same time, however, we KNOW him. And one of the things we know about him is that he'll adjust to the consequences. People ask why he gets grounded for a week or more. Because he needs the constant weight of lost privileges as a reminder. Since he was let off grounding over a week ago - we've had NO problems with relapsing into the behavior that caused the grounding in the first place. NONE. Granted, it's been coupled with positive reinforcement, but that alone doesn't cut with him.
So, it kind of seems like he whacked the kid, realized how much trouble he was likely in, and essentially treed himself. Mr. B was called out to deal with him, and he talked to both boys, and then ACTIVELY took the boys back to class past me! LOL! He chuckled that SG had been more than a little freaked out when he figured out that they were going past MOM on this little walk of embarrassment. Kind of a, "Please dear god, don't take me past HER!! SHE'LL KILL ME!!! You DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!" heeheehee...
So, The Boy. He's LOVING school, his teachers, his classmates, the bus - EVERYTHING. He's SO FREAKING HAPPY. :) So are we. Except...he's lost two lunch boxes already. Darth Dader didn't come home about two weeks ago now, and yesterday the Blue Pack-it that we'd borrowed for him from CW, that didn't come home either. w00t.
Anyway. He somehow got into trouble on the playground last week, not incidentally WHILE I was on school grounds helping out with Picture Day. The (male) Vice Principal was marching SG and another little boy back to their classrooms from his office, BARELY managing to conceal his grin from the boys. SG looked TERRIFIED when I saw him and gave him the Mom Look. VP came back after depositing them in their classrooms and explained that (I think) the boys had come to blows over something - as closely as he could tell, Optimus Prime had figured largely in the argument. But, the kicker was when SG retreated up into the playground equipment and wouldn't budge. From what SG owned up to later, and what I've seen him do, I have a feeling that however it started (it kind of sounds like they were simply playing), SG's (Idle) Hand got upset and whacked the other kid. I say it thusly because he KNOWS he's not to do that, but occasionally the impulse out-paces the CONTROL, and he's horrified over the situation after it happens. It's the physical version of, "Ack! I didn't mean to say that out loud!" He knows he wasn't supposed to do it, and knows that there's going to be a reckoning of some sort. Side note, most of us hear that with discipline we have to be consistent. With HIM, we've found that we have to be consistently INCONSISTENT. Or, unpredictable, as it were. So - he's never sure how bad it's going to be.
Back to the uncontrolled, escaped impulse - usually when he's had this happen and is aware of it, he beats himself up about it. Mom mentioned over the summer that he was smacking his forehead with his hand while explaining to her that, "his brain gets him in trouble," sometimes. Boy is fantastic at being pitiful - it really sucks being his parents at moments like that, because we feel so bad for him. At the same time, however, we KNOW him. And one of the things we know about him is that he'll adjust to the consequences. People ask why he gets grounded for a week or more. Because he needs the constant weight of lost privileges as a reminder. Since he was let off grounding over a week ago - we've had NO problems with relapsing into the behavior that caused the grounding in the first place. NONE. Granted, it's been coupled with positive reinforcement, but that alone doesn't cut with him.
So, it kind of seems like he whacked the kid, realized how much trouble he was likely in, and essentially treed himself. Mr. B was called out to deal with him, and he talked to both boys, and then ACTIVELY took the boys back to class past me! LOL! He chuckled that SG had been more than a little freaked out when he figured out that they were going past MOM on this little walk of embarrassment. Kind of a, "Please dear god, don't take me past HER!! SHE'LL KILL ME!!! You DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!" heeheehee...
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
...and she proves her name correct. Again.
Well, here we are, 1 month into the schoolyear. CW is in 6th grade and SG is in Kindergarten. He's already lost two lunchboxes, and she's already come home with TWO Weekly Reports from her teachers stating that she's not getting all of her homework done. Awesome. Last week she claimed that she just doesn't know what the homework is, so, we suggested (rather firmly) that she write it all down in her handy dandy (assignment) NOTEBOOK! RIGHT! Especially since we have to sign off on her having done her homework.
We pointed out that she has a lot of privileges, some of which were going away. Last week she lost the ability to do her homework upstairs in her room listening to music. We're not trusting her now, so we ask to see every piece of homework that's listed in the assignment book before we sign off on it. I wrote about what we'd discussed on the signature portion of the WR that had to go back to the teachers.
Fast forward to this morning, where she hands me her Weekly Report about 20 minutes before leaving for school. It's much better, but still reflects that not all of her homework has been completed. She's (of course) clueless as to what she's missed. So. She's lost TV privileges until ALL homework is being marked as complete (her shoulders slumped). AND if that's not happening by next week's WR, I'm going to start deleting all of her tv shows off of the DVR. Her face went WHITE at that threat. On the signature portion I wrote down that she's lost TV until ALL homework is reflected as being completed. I'm hoping that IF there's any issues on the part of the teachers not being careful about her homework, that the fact that she's being punished will make sure that THEY get it right as well. I honestly don't think that they are the problem though - she really is THAT clueless.
We pointed out that she has a lot of privileges, some of which were going away. Last week she lost the ability to do her homework upstairs in her room listening to music. We're not trusting her now, so we ask to see every piece of homework that's listed in the assignment book before we sign off on it. I wrote about what we'd discussed on the signature portion of the WR that had to go back to the teachers.
Fast forward to this morning, where she hands me her Weekly Report about 20 minutes before leaving for school. It's much better, but still reflects that not all of her homework has been completed. She's (of course) clueless as to what she's missed. So. She's lost TV privileges until ALL homework is being marked as complete (her shoulders slumped). AND if that's not happening by next week's WR, I'm going to start deleting all of her tv shows off of the DVR. Her face went WHITE at that threat. On the signature portion I wrote down that she's lost TV until ALL homework is reflected as being completed. I'm hoping that IF there's any issues on the part of the teachers not being careful about her homework, that the fact that she's being punished will make sure that THEY get it right as well. I honestly don't think that they are the problem though - she really is THAT clueless.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
CW and I were in Target yesterday, and wandering around and found ourselves in the mirror section. She stood there looking at herself and me, and finally asked me, "Why do all the girls at school wear skinny jeans?"
I told her that it was likely that it's because that's the style right now, and that some of us like to wear boots over jeans, as opposed to the other way 'round. (I had to work on that one since I was standing there in a mid thigh-length cardigan over jeggings and my red boots over those.)
I don't recall the exact conversation, but I told her that a lot of it is about fashion and comfort, and which one is more important to you (if it ends up being a choice) and finally ended up asking her if she was "all the other girls," to which she replied that no, she wasn't. :) I think she was happy with the conversation... :)
I told her that it was likely that it's because that's the style right now, and that some of us like to wear boots over jeans, as opposed to the other way 'round. (I had to work on that one since I was standing there in a mid thigh-length cardigan over jeggings and my red boots over those.)
I don't recall the exact conversation, but I told her that a lot of it is about fashion and comfort, and which one is more important to you (if it ends up being a choice) and finally ended up asking her if she was "all the other girls," to which she replied that no, she wasn't. :) I think she was happy with the conversation... :)
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