Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Farmfresh]

Just remember all that sun ALSO makes the weeds grow!! Mulch Mulch Mulch!!

 

[Henrietta23]

Just remember all that sun ALSO makes the weeds grow!! Mulch Mulch Mulch!!

LOL, true true, although they do pretty darn well in the shade here too. Better than the veggies anyway!

 

[Henrietta23]

Staying home today. Partly since I've been up since 2am with a whiny dog and a splitting headache. No idea what either is about. Partly I just need a mental health day, which is pretty sad since this is the first full week of school we've had since we came back from Christmas break. And we only have 2 more before February bread. Just a lot going on with DS. He did something dumb at school and while the teacher handled it well she made him tell the SW intern he sees on Tuesdays and she made a much bigger deal of it than I thought necessary. So I was accused of making light of the situation which was not what I was doing at all. We're dealing with what happened at home, through a friend who is a counselor, and another who is a yoga teacher. (His classroom teacher's remedy for too much physical behavior in class would be to enroll him in wrestling. I don't see that happening) So talking with our friend about self control and better choices and a yoga class to deal with physical energy in a more calm manner will be our way of dealing with it, at least to start off.
So what happened? My uncle, who was in the Merchant Marines, gave him a knot tying kit for Christmas. Tuesday morning before school he was practicing tying knots with the short piece of rope that came in the kit. He apparently decided to keep practicing once he got to school and snuck the rope in his pocket. But once he was in the classroom before school started he decided to wrap the rope around his neck fairly tightly to see how it felt. This coupled with the fact the teacher had caught him holding his breath until his face turned red the day before caused the teacher enough concern that she had him talk to the SW intern about it. The intern had him call me and tell me about it himself. I was concerned but had students in my room with me so couldn't go into it in detail. I asked him to put her back on the phone and told her I'd have to call back in a few minutes so that I could my students back to their classrooms. I did just that and called back right away and talked to him. She made a point of saying he wasn't in any trouble. They were just concerned that he didn't seem to realize he could hurt himself. But there was an underlining message of "you'd better watch him carefully, who knows what he might do." I'm not sure what she would have said if he wasn't in the room. My take on it was that he was not trying to hurt himself. He's a 7 yo boy who is very tactile and was curious. I was made to feel like I'm willing to ignore a potentially dangerous situation. Hardly! DH and I will be keeping an eye on him. We talked about how dangerous it can be. We don't even let him play in the backyard with a scarf tied around his neck.
Anyway, we're dealing with it but I'm exhausted. I'm dropping DS at school, pulling some bread dough out of the fridge and trying to take a nap. I have no idea if I'll accomplish anything today.

 

[Dace]

I gotta say that it does sound a bit overly dramatic.....a boy wrapping something around his neck? Holding his breath? Come on! Don't all kids do that stuff? Since when are we concerned about holding breath? Isn't it enough to pull him aside and say hey wrapping a rope around your neck can be dangerous, lets put the rope in you back pack and then send a little note home about not sending the rope to school?

I have a 14 yr old son who did plenty of dumb things in his day and I never got a phone call unless he was being disruptive in class. Never have I been called because one of my kids was doing something dumb to THEMSELVES!

Sounds like your by is really under the microscope.

 

[justusnak]

Wow, I guess you have been through the wringer...emotionally! Sometimes kids just dont realise the danger they put themselves in.Glad to hear you are handling it with a coulselor. I sure hope everything smooths out for ya. Enjoy your nap...sounds like you need it!

 

[Farmfresh]

Staying home today. Partly since I've been up since 2am with a whiny dog and a splitting headache. No idea what either is about. Partly I just need a mental health day, which is pretty sad since this is the first full week of school we've had since we came back from Christmas break. And we only have 2 more before February bread.

BOY OH BOY do I feel your pain!!

I missed half a day Monday taking my hubby to the doctor for his back and we seem to be on about the same school schedule as you 10 days counting today until another break - yet I had a REALLY hard time getting myself to go to work yesterday!!!

I think this lousy weather is to blame. The kids are all crazy and so are the teachers... at least the healthy ones ... we had 7 adults, just in our wing, home with the puking flu this week for several days!!

As for kids and the dumb things they do, tell me about it!! I remember the year of 5th grade being called up to school because my GEEK son brought a "weapon" to school! When I got there he had taken a huge pair of horse mane shears to school. He needed some scissors and had forgot to tell me the night before so he "solved" his own problem.

Kids will make you old gray and crazy! That is why we love them.

 

[Henrietta23]

Thanks guys. I do think on some level he is just a kid being a kid. Who among hasn't at least once spun around until we were so dizzy we couldn't stand up? That's my son! Do I think that because of his personality we should probably be a little more aware of what he's up to and willing to try and experiment with as he gets older. Well, yeah, I think we'd do that anyway. I think to some extent the school is just trying to cover themselves in case something does happen. I know his teacher does really care about him too. I swear I wouldn't be feeling so off about the whole thing if it hadn't been a condescending 22 year old intern who called me. I don't know how to express this next part without sounding snobbish so I'm just going to jump in. We live in a pretty poor community. Some of the parents in the school are not highly educated. It really irked me that she spoke to me like I was dumb. I'm not sure if it's because of some of the other parents she's had to talk to or what. Once I started responding, her tone changed some, but not much. I should probably write a note to the SW supervisor about it but it's honestly more than I can deal with right now and if I do I will not do a good job of it and really end up looking bad!
I just sneezed 5 times in a row. I think I might be coming down with a sinus thing that's been going around. Yuck!
11 school days till break.....

 

[lorihadams]

There has been a lot of stuff on tv lately about the "choking game". Apparantly lots of kids are choking themselves until they almost pass out in order to get a high from it. Lots of kids have died from it....he's kind of young for that, though. It may have been a little much for someone his age. She may have reacted a little harshly if she had heard about it though. I agree, probably nothing, just a kid being a kid.

 

[Henrietta23]

There has been a lot of stuff on tv lately about the "choking game". Apparantly lots of kids are choking themselves until they almost pass out in order to get a high from it. Lots of kids have died from it....he's kind of young for that, though. It may have been a little much for someone his age. She may have reacted a little harshly if she had heard about it though. I agree, probably nothing, just a kid being a kid.

I could definitely see that with the intern because she mentioned the concept (as if I couldn't possibly have known about it without her filling me in). He certainly hasn't been exposed to anything like that here.
I also think the teacher reacted in part because she has 6 sons of her own and one just rolled her car because, as he admitted, it just felt good to go fast.

 

[Henrietta23]

LOL, I just realized that NO ONE commented that I'm NOT ordering chicks this year. I guess I posted that one on the wrong sister forum!