Our days around here can be pretty interesting, to say the least. On Wednesday, two things happened. One of our 5th grade boys, came home from school. He had his hoodie up and his head down. I asked him how his day was and he burst into tears. He told me that another boy had punched him in the face (I could already see the bruise on his cheekbone) and repeatedly kicked or hit him. This was at the end of the day, and the teacher was talking to another parent and kids were leaving etc…
After a long cuddle, we were on our way to the school to talk to the principal and/or teacher and let them know what had happened. Before we were able to leave, some of our jr high kids came home and two of our 9th grade boys laughingly told us they had been kicked off the bus for the rest of the school year. We put our other dilemma on hold for a minute to see what this was about.
Apparently (from the boys perspective) one boy had been given beans and decided to throw the beans at his brother while on the bus. When the driver stopped the bus, he asked who threw the beans. My son raised his hand and said, “I did”. The bus driver proceeded to talk about bus safety. My other son, asked if he could get off of the bus. The driver said,” No I am still talking”. To which my son replied, ” You can’t keep us hostage on the bus. I demand justice!!!” Justice was served and he was suspended from the bus as well.
Back to our 5th grade son. We went to the school, talked with the principal and the boy and his parents were talked to. The principal indicated what the boys consequences would be and we thanked him. Again, justice was served.
We were gone about 20 minutes. When we returned home, I noticed my potty training reward candy was almost completely gone. (It was full when I left) I confronted the suspected culprit. She assured me several times that she didn’t do anything. Her older sister was kind enough to bring me the wrappers shoved between the suspects bed and wall. Now, you might be thinking something different than I was but, this is how it all played out. I immediately asked the sister how many candies she had eaten. I did a breath check on the now two suspects. They both smelled like chocolate. The older sister said, “that’s weird that you can smell chocolate. I haven’t had any since 3rd period at school.” Needless to say both girls eventually confessed to their crimes. Again, justice was served.
It turns out, the bus driver was kind enough to call and tell us the complete story of what happened. The beans had hit the driver in the back of the head as he was driving. (oops, our son left out that part.) Our son also declared he didn’t want to ride the bus anyway. You know how escalation works, right? Anyway, the bus driver was rather agitated and angry when he called. I assured him our 2 sons were going to have consequences and we apologized on their behalf. He calmed down and told me how much he appreciated parents who support the decisions made by the school, bus drivers and teachers. We had a nice chat after that. ( apparently, not our sons first offense. Big surprise, we didn’t know that either.)
These things all took place in about an hour. This is very typical at our home. I am happy with how things were handled by the bus driver and the principal. I also agree with the bus driver, we need to support our teachers and schools. As a former teacher I can tell you, I didn’t have time to make random calls to parents to make up some story about what their child did. I would call and tell them good things as well. 🙂 Teachers do an amazing job considering all that they have to do and for the little pay they receive. Unfortunately, we demand more and more from them every year (oops! this is obviously a post for another day on our education system). We do need to back up our schools. It is not us against them, it is us WITH them. They are trying (in most cases) to help “raise” our children. We are a team.
That being said…”I demand justice!” has been used quite a bit around here in the last few days. Between you and me, a lot of laughter has followed.( when the kids aren’t around, of course.) 😉
What a day. I admire how you stay calm through all the “Justice”.
LoL I’ve had days like this …. when all 4 would be in trouble. I often look back at all the times I’d rush to school or call a parent with one issue or another. I did feel it was us against them, and most of the time my opinion changed after the issues were resolved. Some days I won and some I lost. I’ve been parenting for 30 years and I think I’m just a scared now as then. The youngest is about to get married and soon will be an empty nets. Thanks for the post.