What the hell? If it isn't an emergency, why in world would my perfect child's principal need to talk to me? I leave a message with him, freak out Daddy seeing if he knows anything, and zing along the lake to pick up the kid for grilling.
When I walk in her daycare, she looks at me and her face just about breaks my heart. I do the usual "Hi honey, let's get going for basketball" and her face crumples up and she says she has an earache. The instant we step outside, she just dissolves, wailing "I got in trouble!" and starts sobbing! She is terrified to tell me what happened but finally sobs out, "I didn't want you to be mad so I l-l-lied! I wasn't going potty!"
A little background: last week she told us twice that she'd had to get a late note because she'd spent so much time in the bathroom before school that she'd been tardy. She is a total bathroom lounger so we didn't think anything of it, just telling her she had to go before school and yadda yadda yadda.
So after a LOT of cajoling, "I'm not mad, but you have to tell me what happened," and "I'm going to talk to the principal anyway, you might as well tell me your side," etc, she finally spilled that she and a friend have been sneaking into a bathroom stall in the morning and playing Littlest Pet Shop and writing on the wall of the stall!
I talked to her principal after dropping her off crying in the gym and apparently (and sadly this is the part that worries most after the lying) they got nailed because MY kid was dopey enough to SIGN HER NAME TO THE GRAFFITI! Oh the agony of having the ding dong delinquent for my kid!
I think we may have done alright in dealing with it. She wrote a letter of apology to her custodian for creating extra work and is going to do some community service by cleaning up the playground on Sunday. We told her she isn't being punished, she's being given a chance to right a wrong. She asked what that meant and we talked about it and I think she gets it.
I'm pretty sure she's been scared straight, but then, I was pretty sure she was straight to begin with! My little Miss Rule Follower! I'm so shocked. She was beating herself up pretty badly last night, couldn't eat dinner, no energy for anything. We talked about not making choices that make her feel that bad but I just wanted to cry when she said, "I don't even want to be alive." Poor kid. She hates that her parents, and worse I think, her teacher, don't think she's the Golden Child anymore. I am glad, I guess, that it's (hopefully!) done with. The principal clearly had no idea who I am, and I like it that way just fine! My goal is to get through public school without any principals' phone numbers looking familiar on my phone!
