Saturday, March 28, 2009

The problems of a 1st grader

I actually think I am more traumatized by this than the oldest monkey is...

Driving to school on Friday morning I hear "There's William. I thought he was suspended" My ears perk up. I wonder who this boy is and why he would be suspended.

It turns out that on Thursday, my monkey was with her friends and came up to this boy and said "Hi". He said, "Shut up stupid!" and then he SLAPPED my lovely, accepting eldest monkey.

She ran to the office and told someone that she was slapped and "swore" at (when you are 6, "shut up" and "stupid" are VERY BAD WORDS). The boy's father was called and he was picked up early. The next day he was back at school!

Upon speaking to the Vice Principal I found out that this 2nd grade boy is in special education. He is "streamlined" with the other kids but has an aide that goes around with him. Except the aide had turned around for a couple of minutes (supposedly). This boy "swears" at everyone and the vice-principal said that there was not much he could do, aside from talking to the boy and his parents. The school doesn't even suspend for this behavior.

I proceeded to let the vice-principal know that if this happens again I will authorize the monkey to fight back and defend herself. He told me that then SHE would get in trouble. I replied that I was willing to risk her getting sent home an hour early (roll eyes) in order to defend her self (actually, I told him that I would authorize her to kick the little boys ass). I also demanded that the school make the boy apologize to my monkey (which they should have done right away).

When I spoke to my monkey I let her know that she should keep away from this boy. More importantly though, she's about about to be a blue belt in Taekwondo. She should have been able to block his slap or at least hit back.

I am proud of her though - even after all this, she is a sweet heart to everyone (except maybe her sister) and still tries to say "hi" to William (and doesn't care that he is different).

5 comments:

Lucy said...

It is so hard to watch our children deal with struggles. It sounds like your little one is doing it just right and that is a 'kudos' to you. I hope she keeps her sunny disposition.

Unknown said...

What a horrible situation. She knows he's different, so she accepts him, which is great. However, sometimes these "special" kids still know the difference between right and wrong and can easily manipulate everyone.

Of course I couldn't know if this is the case here, but I have seen it happen.

I do hope this is the last incident and that all turns out well

Kim said...

I have always told my kids they have my permission to defend themselves. If that results in them getting in trouble, I will take it from there.

You did the right thing, in my opinion!

LL said...

When I was a kid (it always starts out like that when you're a parent, doesn't it?), "special needs" kids, for whom the term of art of the day was "retarded" were not mainstreamed with the rest of the (non-special) children. Since I'm not PC, I'm fine with that. I find some personal difficulty accepting situations where parents push their "special" children into situations where the presence of the "special" ones ruin the experience of all.

Your children have a good home and seem to be able to look at things circumspectly, which goes to how you and your husband raise them.

1st Graders seem to have problems too.

Mary Freaking Poppins said...

I feel your pain and loved this. It's so hard, isn't it?