So, the few of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that I often tell stories about how my boys manage to get themselves into sticky situations (yes, sometimes stickier and stinKier than others, but NO this is not a poop story, well not really, keep reading...).
So as you may or may not remember, I am an English teacher at the same school where my son attends First Grade, Kitah Aleph. He's a sweet, kind boy, loved by all, not just because he'
s my son, but because he's really a good kid (and yes I am biased.)
Anyway, I was sitting in the Teacher's Room today (aka Teacher's Lounge), and it just so happens I was talking to my son's teacher. I was telling her a story about one of his friends who, let's just say, doesn't always make the best choices. Unfortunately, my son tends to be hurt by this 'friend' who at the drop of a hat decides he is BROGES with him (not friends). So, yes, there we sat. She's not a big talker, and I think she often is cautious to keep her distance from me so as not to cross the parent/teacher line even though I am a teacher in the school. It's fine though.
So anyway, in walks another of the first grade teachers bringing a child to find his teacher......the one I was talking to. And can you guess who the child was??? YUP, my little man............with a look of panic on his face, and HANDCUFFS on his wrists! I think my initial reaction was to think that it was some sort of a joke, and I yelled out, "WHAT WILL YOU TELL HIS MOTHER??" Well, many of the teachers in the room laughed, cuz they knew that he is my son, but the poor gal who brought him in did not. She gave me a look as if to shut me up, then I jumped up and said, "I'm his mother!" I don't think she believed me!!!
So yes, long story short, this "friend" had brought the cuffs to school and was showing my son how he could put them on and take them off without the key. Then he wanted to put them on my son......my son tells me that he did not want the kid to put them on him, but the kid did it anyway. So, another teacher and I broke the cuffs in pieces in order to break my son out of them. I gave my son a big hug, the teacher promised him a candy and some hand cream back in the classroom, and he went back out to the playground to play.
At the end of the day I saw the "friend," and his first response when he saw me was, "Susie, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it!" Whatever. I gave him a mini speech about how it was very dangerous, yadda yadda yadda.
Later this evening, I got a call from his mother........she called to apologize, and proceeded to tell me how her son came home and didn't tell her what happened. Instead he just told her that they broke........but then the teacher called her. The teacher had explained to her what had happened, so the kid told his mom that my son had WANTED to put the cuffs on, even though the story I heard is the opposite. I told her this and she lightheartedly told me that she didn't think that the cuffs would be a problem........
huh?
So then she made some sort of comment about how we probably could have just opened them with a safety pin or something. It was then that I explained to her that first off, the cuffs were tight on his hands and second that the kid had already been stuck in them for a good 10 minutes or so and we were under a bit of pressure to get him out. It hurt him and he was scared. So we broke them off of him. I also told her about her son's reaction when he saw me and how he was all guilty and saying he didn't mean it etc, and her reaction..........."Oh, how cute!"
WTF??
So then I got strong...........and told her that I had already talked to my son about how when someone wants him to do something that he doesn't want to do that he needs to stand his ground.....no means no and all that. Then I said, "I think you need to talk to your son about how when someone doesn't want to do something and they tell him no that NO means NO and that he should not try to make other kids do things they don't want to do. " And with that, as if sent by someone upstairs, my younger son ran up to me (we were standing outside of a store) and started screaming......................
"EMAH, I NEED TO MAKE A DOODIE!!!"
and I was saved from having the conversation go any further. hahaha
