Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Kids LIE Part II

Please read previous post first.

This little story of my son Jack kind of proves my point.

My son Jack is wrapping up his FIRST GRADE year. There have been times that he has gotten in trouble and I don't agree with how the teacher handled the situation or that he should even be in trouble. To this point I have not done anything about it for the following reasons.

  • None of the violations have been serious...he is in first grade
  • The consequences are not serious.
  • I want to support the teacher and I think it is important that my son realize I am not going to bail him out.
  • One instance where it was CLEAR the teacher did not do a good job of investigating I privately just shook my head and let my son serve the consequence. Why you ask? Consequences were already served so there was nothing I could do about changing that and while not fair I wanted to see how my son handled a situation where he was not treated fairly by his teacher. This is going to happen. He passed by the way.
  • Good or Bad the teacher is a bit scared of me due to the fact that I am a Principal.

Anyway, one day my son got in trouble for something he did at school. He deserved to get in trouble. When he got home he knew he was going to be in trouble so he told this wild story about how it was not his fault and it was really Sid's doing. The fact that he is 7 means that the story was EXTRA LONG. Remembering when I was a kid and how my dad handled it I just sat there and listened. I then said this to my son.

  • Okay, Jack I will call and talk to your teacher and see what she has to say. I want you to remember two things Jack. First, if your story does not match hers then you will be in more trouble for lieing to me and your mother. Oh and remember one more thing...
  • THERE IS NOT A KID NAMED SID IN THE FIRST GRADE.

His reaction was funny. He just looked at me for about 2 seconds. Sighed and dropped his head and then said, "Never mind" as he walked off into another room. About 30 minutes later he said, "You know dad there WAS a SID in my kindergarten class." Maybe so Jack but you went to PRIVATE kindergarten at another school. His response? "Dang it" as he turned around and went back to his room.

You gotta give the kid credit for trying.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This was great. I'm glad that: (1) you guys listen to what Jack has to say; (2) you guys don't give Jack a free pass; and (3) Jack is such a creative thinker! You gotta have discipline so you can channel your creativity (i.e., use your powers for good and not evil ;) ). Way to go.

M'Kirsen