Hmmph! This Stinks!

Of course, my first instinct is to swoop in, my motherly laser beam eyes glowing, superhero cape swirling about behind me. This woman took my perfect little baby and threw him into a totally unfair situation. She's pegging him as a bad kid for whatever sick twisted reason she has. Maybe he didn't smile huge that first day, or raise his hand enough when she asked for answers. Maybe he neglected to have some papers signed the first day, so she's deciding that his excuses are always just that--excuses.

He certainly didn't ask for my help. He simply told me in passing that he had a lunch detention. I felt my blood boil. I heard the steam escaping. I saw red.

There's plenty of manuals out there now. What To Expect The First year. Preschoolers For Dummy's. Who knows. Barnes & Nobles can point you to a large section of their store designated to every single question you might have-answer tucked neatly away with a picture of some comic to make you smile while you learn the ins and outs of mental breakdowns at all the most inopportune times. But where's the manual for how to confront a teacher who gives you perfectly scripted answers. Yes. I know she's making her case look better. Yup, she's gonna now peg me as one of "those" moms. Lord knows, she's probably going to be tougher on him now because he "must've tattled to mommy"

It's hard, watching them flounder out there. You wanna jump in there and bring them back to shore. You want to make theirs a better experience. You want to just do something. Anything.

Yet where would I be if every little problem person in my life was "taken care of" for me. Would I have learned how to stand up for myself? To know when to hold 'em...or when to fold 'em? What about just dealing with certain people. Learning the art of keeping quiet and keeping busy? Doing the work extremely well so that there's no way they can say I didn't? Hard work ethics, devotion to self preservation, and a memory to tell your kids about your miseries of Middle School. I had some teachers like that. I haven't liked every person I've met.

Not that Andrew (and Hannah...and Thomas) don't deserve the very best in life. They are truly great great kids. They're hard working, devoted, loving, empathetic kids who live life to it's very fullest. But, they're only as strong as the adversities they overcome. This school year is but a blip on the rest of Andrew's life. She won't make him hate school-he'll do that on his own! Heck, he's already started!

Really, I guess what I can do is sit here, twisting and pulling and punching and poking a stress ball (Ok, need to go out and get one now). Obviously, if things get out of control I will be the first one with a torch lit. For now, I'll just wait. Not my strongest trait, for sure!