Notes From the Trailerhood

My kids started at their new school today.  Their school happens to be the very same grade school I went to as a kid.  So the whole thing has been a bit surreal.

We have had some concerns during the move.  Shelby is 10 and that is such a weird age for girls.  The cliques and cattiness begins at this age.  Kids can be pretty mean.  Shelby is very vibrant and can be a bit much at times.  So I have been really nervous about how her first day would go.  But she has a teacher I have known since I was an infant and she is fabulous.  I knew she would be well taken care of.

We weren’t as concerned about Clayton.  He is 7 and so easy going.  He just rolls with the punches and doesn’t get worked up.  He makes friends very easily and is that kid that every one wants to be friends with.  We knew he wouldn’t have a problem.

Feelings were kind of fragile to begin with this morning.  This weekend was Dad’s weekend…only he forgot.  So he made me come get the kids Saturday but promised he would get their new school supplies to me Sunday.

Mid-afternoon Sunday, the Ex calls to tell me that he is too broke to buy them the clothes and school supplies he promised them.  Then when I called him on his deadbeat status and threatened a possible court mandated solution, he suddenly found the money to buy them. But at that point, the kids knew what had happened (from eavesdropping…I don’t generally involve them).  But when he dropped off the supplies, he made sure to add to the kids that they are not going back there that day.  My poor kids were feeling a little dejected.  Poor babies!

The kids were looking forward to starting school, even if they were a little bummed about the ‘Dad’ situation.  So we set off to get to school about 15 minutes early to be sure the kids got to where they needed to go.

Wouldn’t you know it?  They seemed to have changed the traffic flow of the school since I attended there 19 years ago. So that made us right on time for that last bell to ring…Crap!

I ask the kids if they want me to walk them to class.  Shelby says no and takes off up the stairs to class.  Clayton tells me that I can go with him to his class…if I want to, but I don’t have to…no big deal.  I told him I would and he seemed relieved.

I walked Clayton upstairs, pausing only to chat with the gym teacher that was astonished that I have a 10-year-old.  We get to the class and the teacher’s eyes get really big.

“OH!  We have a new friend joining us today, kids!”

She then jumps up from her desk and walks around to the rows of desks.

“I don’t even have a desk for you yet, Buddy.  I totally forgot.”

I’m standing there thinking that I can’t believe that she didn’t at least have a desk and name tag ready for him.  But whatever…I can be forgetful too.

So I said good-bye to my little man and headed to work.

About 10 minutes after the kids got out of school, Clayton called me at work.  I was so glad to hear from him.  I couldn’t wait to hear about their day.  I asked him how it went.

“It was terrible.  I don’t like the teacher.”

Oh, Honey.  I’m sure that it’s just getting back into the swing of things.  I bet by the end of the week you will like her much more.

“No, Mom!  She totally forgot I was coming.  She didn’t have a desk for me.  Once she got one, I didn’t even have a name tag.  She didn’t get me one until the end of the day.  I wasn’t sure what I should do.  I felt like all we did was color until we went to gym.”

I’m so sorry, Buddy.  That sounds stinky. But did you like gym?

“It was OK.  But they make you do exercises and stuff.  We had to do jumping jacks and run laps.”

Well, PE does stand for physical education.  It requires moving.

“Yeah, but we never did that before.”

You’re funny.  How was lunch?

“Awful!  I was last in line and ended up sitting at a table all by myself because the rest of the tables were full. It sucked!”

What!?! Are you sure?

“Yes!  I sat by no one.  But they had round apple juices. That was good.”

At least there was a silver lining. But that doesn’t help my feeling that something isn’t right here.

That sounds like a crummy day.  I’m sorry. How was Shelby’s day?

“Her’s was fine.  She loves her teacher.  And she made friends and had some one to sit with at lunch.”

One kid had a good day.  I guess that’s encouraging.  But what do I do about this other.  It just sounds so weird and not right.  When I picked the kids up after work, I asked them again about the day.  This time Shelby corroborated Clayton’s story.  Poor baby!

Now what do I do?  Do I hope that the teacher had an off day and it will be better tomorrow? Do I go talk to the teacher and try to get some kind of explanation and demand that she be better to my kid?  I mean…that doesn’t seem totally psychotic, right?

Another teacher at the school is close friends with my parents.  I called my mom and asked if she would mind talking to this friend to see if this is typical and what I should do.  Then I sat by my phone and waited for my mommy to help me out. (I swear I did just turn 30.  I am an adult!)

Mom calls back to tell me that her friend was shocked at hearing the story.  That she has worked with this teacher for years and that is very a-typical of her.  She suggested I go in and talk to her about my concerns and ask for Clayton to be able to introduce himself and maybe have a ‘buddy’ show him the ropes. She mentioned that this teacher had been out on their prep day late last week with the flu and she may still not be 100% and that may be part of it.

I feel better knowing that is not a typical situation.  So I am going to run the risk of looking like a total psychotic over-protective mom and go talk to the teacher tomorrow.  I just hope that it goes well!

UPDATE: After talking things over with Clayton, I decided to send a note instead of going in to talk to his teacher.  She sent me a nice note back and CLayton had a much better day today.  Whew!