A LIttle Mishap

So Jack came home w/ his first 'bad note' last week. I was not pleased. Here's how it went down.

I picked Jack up that day in the car rider line- seems I do that more and more these days. Jack gets on the bus at 2:00 and doesn't get off until 2:35 - and we live max 2 miles from the school. Terrible.

Anyway...

So I pick him up and the first thing he says to me, before he even buckles his seat belt, is "Mom- it was a bad day. But it wasn't my fault."

Hummmm....

Me: What happened Jack?

J: Well- we were on the carpet and Matthew did something funny and it made me laugh and Jake and I got in trouble because we laughed. But it wasn't my fault Mom. For real. I didn't do anything. I just laughed.

Me: Ok- we'll chat about it when we get home.

We arrived at home and the first thing I did was pull his Bee Book out. It' s a book that all the kids in the class have with different folders and sections in it. One of the sections in this behavior sheet. If Jack's behavior is fine- he gets a smiley sticker. Well- every single day of this school year he has gotten a smiley face sticker. In fact- the only time his teacher has even written anything in the comments section is the first day of school- so honestly, I sort of quick looking at it on a regular basis.

But not this day.

There was no sticker.

Instead, it said: See Below.

So I read what was written below.

"It seems that a group of boys is having a hard time with being giggly and silly. I have given them ample opportunity to stay on task and ..... blah blah blah..... ( I can't remember the rest of this part. ) I have no choice but to start notifying parents."

Really? Really? Last time I checked 6 year old boys have a tendency to be silly and giggly..... Argh. Jack said he hadn't been punished in school for this. Not sure why his teacher didn't punish him and his giggly friends before notifying parents.

So we talked. Jack and I talked about respect and choices and why this behavior is unacceptable. We also talked about the repercussions if he ever brought a note like this home again: no basketball for 24 hours and I would cancel the next playdate I had scheduled. He didn't like that.

But- seems our chat has worked. In the week since the note first came home his behavior is much better. He is behaving and not being silly. When I went in to volunteer on Monday the little boy who made Jack laugh was sitting on the carpet in the corner, alone. Hummm... wonder if that's helping.

Until next time...