Made Up My Mind For Me

        Book companies will sometimes send me boxes of books to preview for purchase.  The other day I got a preview box in and started pulling out the books.  I was a little concerned because one set of books was about WWE wrestlers.  Our school doesn't really allow anything to do with wrestling.  Our kids are not allowed to wear wrestling shirts or bring wrestling toys to school.  I know that the kids, boys expecially, would really love those books, but I just couldn't decide if I was going to buy them or send them back. I left all the books stacked on my circulation desk that the kids walk by when they come into my room.           That day I had my worst 4th grade class.  It is almost impossible to work with this class.  It feels like it is all boys and everyone of them has a bad attitude.  I rarely make it through that class without writing someone up or sending someone to the office.  One of my trouble makers walks right by my desk as they come into class and knocks the entire stack of wrestling books off.  I could see the look of excitement in his eyes as he bent down to pick up the books and realized what they were about.  As he picked them up he asked if he could check one of them out.  I told him that they were only preview books and that I had not bought them yet.  But if he promised to treat them gently, I would let him look at them during class that day.           By the end of that class I had every one of my trouble makers in a different corner of the room looking at the wrestling books being as quiet and good as can be.  I didn't have a single bit of trouble that day.  When they finished with one book, they would quietly exchange it with one of the other kids, until they had looked at every book.   That day I made up my mind.  I will DEFINITELY be buying the wrestling books!  

Shoeless Joe

I was hanging around the office before school started this morning when the kindergarten aid came in and told us that one of the kindergarten kids had come to school without shoes. The little boy came into the office and I asked him how he managed to get to school without shoes.  "Well I was playing chase with my friend at the bus stop and I couldn't run with my flip flops on so I took them off and when the bus got there I forgot to put them back on." Now how he managed to get on the bus without the bus driver noticing is beyond me.

It must be nice!

As I have mentioned before, I work after school as a tutor at a local children's home.  This home usually takes in children from other parts of the state. But every once in a while they will take in children who have been removed from their parents in our district.   The first time this happened was about 5 years ago with a little girl in kindergarten.  I won't go into details but she was experiencing abuse at home and was displaying signs in school and child protective services came in and removed her and she was placed with the home.  She lived there about 2 years before being adopted by a local family and still remains in our school district.  It was amazing how she changed during that time.  When she was in kindergarten she was very difficult.  Today she is a sweet little girl and hardly any trouble at all.  It is remarkable to see the changes that this child has made.  I truly believe hers will be a success story.   On the other hand:   My next story is not as wonderful.    There is a couple in our town that everyone in our school is very familiar with.  They have a total of 5 children all together if I'm not mistake.  Thier oldest lives with grandma and always has.  Mom and dad just couldn't handle this child.  Why?  Lets see?  He never gets in trouble at school, is always polite and respectful.  Always did as he was told.  As you can see he is totally out of control.  NOT.  Their next two children were girls and really were a handful.  Not bad, just a little more lively.  Grandma refused to take them so mom and dad were stuck with those two.  Those two girls are in my school and in 3rd and 5th grade.  The other two are not school age yet, so I don't know a lot about them. The school counselor has been trying together these kids away from their parents for years. Neglect, abuse you name it. They are just rotten parents. Well this summer it finally happened and the kids were all sent to live at the children's home that I work at after school. One day as I was showing up after school for tutoring I happened to see those parents leaving from a visit. The kids stood at the door and waved and said," love you, bye." It was the same as when I drop my own kids off somewhere.  But it really got me to thinking;  it must be nice having someone else take over the trouble and cost of raising your kids.  Those two still get the joy of visiting and playing with their kids anytime they want to,   but here's what they don't have to put up with.  They never have to be the bad guy.  When its bed time or bath time or nap time, they never have to be the one to make their kids obey.  The home pays group leaders to do that.  They don't have to help with homework or worry about their grades.  The home pays me to do that.  They don't have to help with school papers or projects.  They don't have to pay for school supplies.  They don't pay for school clothes or any clothes, because the home buys them clothes whenever they need them.  They get new shoes more often then I do now.  They don't have to pay for food because the home provides meals.  (But I have a feeling they still collect food stamps!)  They don't have to find a babysitter if they want alone time.  They get plenty of that these days. They don't have to attend parent teacher conferences, the education coordinator does that.  They don't have to attend discipline conferences.  If their kid gets in trouble at school its not their problem anymore.  They have managed to work out the perfect parenting system.  The state takes care of all expenses and  trouble and they get to show up once a week and get kisses and act like they are the parents of the year.  They must be a lot smarter then we ever gave them credit for. Like I said it must be nice!