Tuesday, February 26, 2008

t-r-o-u-b-l-e

"Mom... can I speak to you alone for a moment?" Katie's coming to that age where these words could be the harbingers of any of a million revelations. Many of those will be wonderful moments that I look forward to sharing with her. This was not one of those.
Miss Katie says she was headed out to recess today, but it was really cold outside. She met a group of friends in the hall who were headed to the library to play on the computers, and they told her the teachers were fine with that activity during recess. (The teachers are fine with library and computer privileges for children with permission.) Katie and friends did not have permission to be in the library or on the computers.
The girls drew the librarian's attention. She wanted to know if they had permission to be there. All the girls took off headed out to the playground while the librarian called the fifth grade teachers to ascertain why a gaggle of giggling fifth grade girls were loose in the library, and they all found themselves in hot water.
Once Katie completed her lengthy explanation (The above is greatly abbreviated, but you are missing nothing.), I had her repeat it for her Daddy's beneft in a brief form. We asked her what the consequences for "getting in trouble" will be. She said she didn't know. I told her I will be checking with her teacher to determine what consequences will be imposed at school, and to help us decide what consequences, if any, will be necessary at home. She seemed overly concerned about that teacher contact. (Anytime a kid doesn't want a teacher contacted, I know I really need to check in with one.) I suspect there is more to this tale...

Update: Uh-huh. Katie's tale is missing a few details. Her second version also glossed over some ticklish bits. Let's just say that recess was lost, and then she came home to discover that she had very few privileges remaining at home for the day. Hopefully, she will make a better decision next time time she is in a similar situation.

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