Monday, September 28, 2009

School days

When Hailey started school this year, I was dreading their first "family" assignment. The first graders do the same project every year. They get a construction paper house and you are asked to add pictures of your family. It wasn't a question to me of whether or not we should add Sydney's picture. However, Hailey was the one who had to get up in front of her class and present her house.

When the house came home with her, I asked her who we should add pictures of. She said, "Um, Mommy...and Daddy...and Christian, and me, and Tigger, Joey and Simba (The cats)...and Sydney!" So that is exactly what we did. I'm curious to know what the teacher thought. She was Christian's 1st grade teacher as well, so she knows us well. I wrote notes to both kids' teachers to explain what had happened and let them know that it might come up.

Last week, Hailey brought home another paper that she'd done in class. I don't really know what they call them. You write a sentence in the middle, then draw
pictures and add sentences in four squares around the page. This one was about family. She drew me in one square, then Eric and Christian (wearing funny brown dome hats) in another square. In the third square, she drew a baby and wrote, "I love my baby sister."

It warms my heart to know that they love her so much. But it also breaks my heart that they have to deal with this pain as well.

And poor Christian. His teacher is pregnant. That hit me like a ton of bricks when I met her at open house. She goes out on maternity leave next month. All of the kids keep talking about her baby and it upsets Christian. He mentioned it to his teacher one day. She got a note on the first day of school, just as Hailey's teacher did. She told him, "Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten." WTF, lady? Are you serious? I don't care that she forgot, but why would you SAY that to a child? Couldn't she think of something else, anything else to say to him in that moment? Even a "I'm sorry" or something. It amazes me that people can work with kids and not know anything about relating to them.


6 comments:

Emmy said...

Oh, wow. I was loving your post until you started talking about Christian's teacher. Boiling, now! Unbelievable! I hope you had a chance to turn that unfortunate experience into a positive for your son - what a great teachable moment for compassion! As for his teacher - maybe her maternity leave will turn into a hiatus? Fingers crossed...

Jaime said...

Here's hoping she won't come back. I'm sure when she does, she'll have all kinds of baby pictures and might even bring the baby in. I remember teachers bringing in their new babies when I was in school. Maybe the Influenza A/H1N1 issue will keep her from doing that. LOL

I'm really annoyed that they gave him a pregnant teacher, not only for this reason, but because he has Asperger's and is very routine oriented. He doesn't do well when his routine is interrupted. So he is used to her now, then she'll be gone until January so he'll get used to the substitute, then she'll be back. His special education teacher handpicks her kids' teachers, so why didn't they think of this? Ugh. I really wish I could homeschool.

Anonymous said...

Poor Christian. My heart breaks for him!

Bree said...

Ugh. I really despise happy pregnant women. I hope she doesn't come back either. Is it too late to request another teacher? Your kids sound really sweet. I spotted a preggo teacher at my new job today. Thank god I don't have to work directly with her. But, I found myself staring at her at staff meeting for really long time.

Jaime said...

She sent home a note today. I swear, I don't think she could've said "maternity leave" any more than she did. I wanted to write back and say, I don't give a damn when you're due or when you leave, or that you can't order class shirts because you're too overwhelmed with your pregnancy or that you're too self-centered to realize that one of your student's family just went through a horribly tragedy and really don't want to hear about your baby. Grrr. Yes, I'm just a LITTLE bitter.

Mary said...

No tact. That is all I have. I mean, even if he is a little boy, he still has feelings. No tact.