OK. First let me say that my son's science teacher is a pretty sweet young woman. I came to this conclusion last summer when she was my son's chaperone on a 4 day trip to Washington D.C. with about 50 jr. high students. She happened to get the group of kids (about 12) who got stuck in Chicago overnight on the way home. They were broken into 3 travel groups and they came back on 3 separate flights. Wouldn't you know my son was one that got the extra night away. This poor woman looked as though she had been through a war zone when she got off the plane. She was exhausted. But she was very complimentary of the kids and said how patient and repsectful they were and how they handled all the mishaps with great attitudes. The kids were just coming down from some sort of caffeine/sugar high. Seems they discovered Starbucks in the airport and decided to use the last of their money buying one frappucino after another. So Mrs. C has earned my respect and admiration.
That is why it has been hard for me to confront her on a couple of issues. First my son wore a sweatshirt to school that said "one night at fight camp..." it is a wrestling sweatshirt. He came home and said she told him not to wear it again. So when I asked her about it she said that the phrase "one night at band camp..." comes from the movie "American Pie" ( I think) and it refers to something sexual. Well, we didn't know that and I really believe Blake didn't know that. So we won't let him wear that anymore. Now Blake has come home and said he got in trouble for naming his paper airplane, which was a science class project, "The Pocket Rocket." She told him he could either write an essay on the inappropriate nature or...something else...I can't remember. He said, "Mrs. C I don't know why it's wrong. It's the name of an actual motorcyle on the market - a mini bike for kids." So she dropped it.
Now I don't fight battles my kids don't want me to fight, but Blake feels wrongly accused and I don't blame him. So I have printed off a picture of the "Pocket Rocket" motor bike and enclosed it with a (hopefully) very respectful letter to assure her that it is a legitimate product and his name for his little airplane came from just innocently copying from that. Maybe he is in violation of copyright laws but I don't think his mind was in the gutter.
I am not naive enough to think that teenage boys don't love potty talk. But in this case I think Blake was misjudged. When he first told me about this I thought "well, she needs to get her mind out of the gutter and stop assuming everybody else's is there too." But I'm sure dealing with jr. high kids on a daily basis can make one pretty cynical on occasion. So I don't want to judge her too harshly either.
So that's that.
Now to my favorite world traveler; I hope you are having a good trip. We miss you. Our circle doesn't quite close when you are gone....
3 comments:
I hate to keep chuckling at your posts, because I'm sure they're not that funny to you, but you have a great way of presenting a story & it just cracks me up! Pocket Rocket - that's classic! I'd love to hear the sequel to this story (after the teacher reads your letter)
Unfortunately, what my dear wife is kindly leaving out is that her deepest fear is that her 14 year old son (who she has a great relationship with by the way...) is turning into his FATHER!! Yes, although my mother refuses to believe it, I was a rather obnoxious kid in high school.....always pushing the limit with the teachers and in particular one administrator. And Heidi observed all this before we started dating seriously in my Senior year and I decided to shape up before heading of to Harding (it is a Christian school afterall!).
Honey....I'm sure you do a great job with your very kind note to Mrs. C. She will respect you (and Blake for that matter) for taking the time to do this and stand up for your kid when appropriate.
beaner, keep chuckling. I love to make people laugh and I do try to see humor in most situations. I am betting that next week, my first at a new job, my blog will be full of laughs.
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