OK so this is my routine with my little guy Hunter for school each morning! I take him to school so his sisters do not have to struggle with him. I stay there until the teacher comes out and picks them up and once they are in the building I leave. WHY? Well Hunter has had times in the past where he has wandered or just been a bit hard headed and not wanted to listen to siblings etc. A really good example is Tee Ball last year! My husband and one of my friends were at a game with the "boys" and they were out playing ball when someone realized Hunter was no longer there! Everyone was frantic they all starting looking for him and eventually found him across the entire park at the snack bar! So keeping that in mind I decide to tell the principal, playground aide, and the teacher his history and just to make sure they might watch him a bit closer. My friends even joke with me about me being paranoid or laugh that I actually go every morning and stand there with him until he gets in the school. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO That was obviously not enough. Today I did my normal routine again today. Once the teacher and her entire line of the kindergartner's were in the building I got to my car, unlocked it and get the girls in and look over and there is my son! By himself in the parking lot. No adults to be found, no other kiddos hanging with him, Just him in the lot by himself! I about lost it grabbed the girls and ran over to him. I was very mad and yelling at him "why are you out here"? He just said he couldn't find me and he was thirsty. I go to his class and open the door and the aide was holding a child that was absolutely freakin' out. So I was unable to tell the teacher my son was out in the parking lot by himself. So I left him there and went to the office and vented a bit but was emotional at this time and decided it was best to have them call me at home so I could get it together before I went off at the school for lack of safety. I got home and called the hubby and he was pretty mad too although he wasn't really understanding my crying part. Finally the school secretary calls and the principal is out until Monday and she was not too happy about the safety issue. So she was going to discuss it with staff and have the teacher call me. The teacher calls a bit later and she is more about punishing my son rather than his safety which of course bugs the heck out of me. I am a open minded person. So when I spoke to both the office and to the teacher I voiced how strongly I felt about safety as well as Hunter learning that this was not OK and to have him taught the right way to handle it if he was lost or feeling confused where he was supposed to be. However, I fell a bit unhappy at he way it was handled by the teacher. She called me back and said she was taking his morning recess away as a punishment. I want him to know what he did was wrong but I also am not convinced he knew that to begin with so I think this should be a learning experience not a punishment. He is 5 years old and has never been to public school before and its only the 4th day of school. What do you all think?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I can not believe that!!! I agree it should be a learning experiance. He is five and the teacher is in charge of her class. I am so sorry and I am glad he is ok.
Oh man! I totally feel your pain. On one hand I think that he needs to learn that it is not ok to wonder off, but I dont agree with the teacher at all! Why would she take his recess away on the 4th day of school?? maybe she should have given him a warning first, then if he did it again-bye bye recess! Maybe when the principal gets back (what principal is out the first week of school?) there will be some better solutions for you. I hope your days go more smoothly. He will get the hang of it soon:)
oh tough one! scary that he was alone in the parking lot! and i can understand not wanting him to be disciplined by losing recess, not my fave punishment, but maybe if he has a hard consequence he'll learn to think about his options before he does something. the aide was obviously busy with the freaking out kid.
i kind of have had to learn to let the teacher discipline how she thinks is best, then discuss with the kids how they felt about the consequence , then ask "what do you think you could have done differently?" give a chance to figure out a good option or two, then if they are way off, say want to know what i think you could have done? give real options then . and say well what do you think you'll do next time? teach him problem solving skills, and to think for himself. give him empathy about how it must have been hard to loose recess. then hope he think about it next time. they have to learn sometime that there are consequences, easier now than later. that is the love and logic way. hard but worth it. and you have to think what is the best way to learn , what could you take away that would give the most impact? that is why they take recess away. because it is the best part of the day. poor kid. pack a water bottle and tell him where it is, too. hope they figure out a safe way to keep kids out of the lot! LAME!
sorry hope that this advice didn't totally offend you. it is always days like this that i think maybe i should home school. but i don't have enough sanity for that. hope you are doing ok! and the principal does something for you!
i still can't believe that. i would be really paranoid too. it was so fun to meet you last night.
Hi! It was so fun meeting you last night! I still can't believe this story, it's horrible! I loved your stories last night & thought you and Julie were hilarious! :)
Post a Comment