Read from bottom-up to see the e-mail exchange I somehow restrained myself from having yesterday with the parent of a four-year-old at Scout's Montessori school:
Dear Ms. Thornbush—
Yesterday Brady walked up to Elizabeth and blasted her across the cheek in just the sort of unprovoked attack that has become his modus operandi at the Montessori Academy. We hope he does better at the military school we hopefully assume you're sending him to.
Thank you for taking him away,
The Murrays
—— Forwarded Message
From: Evelyn Thornbush
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:11:44 -0500
Subject: Brady's last day at The Academy
It is with a heavy heart that I write this to let you know that Friday August 29th will be Brady's last day at the Montessori Academy.
We have enjoyed being a part of the school community, and appreciate the friendship, support and learning environment that you provided for Asher and our family. You are amazing teachers and families and we would very much like to keep in touch.
Mike, Evelyn, and Brady Thornbush
_________________________
Evelyn Thornbush | Associate Strategist | Global Quantitative Management
Please visit northerntrust.com.
LOL!!! I know so many parents who would love to respond in a similar manner. Here is one for you. My friend’s daughter was being bullied by another four-year-old at the school. Attempting to teach her daughter to stand up for herself in a polite way, she told her to respond with a statement learned at Sunday school. The next day, when taunted by the bully, the child responded, “Jesus loves you even though you are mean.” Expecting to get a call from the director, my friend proactively told her what had happened. The director guffawed because…the bully and his family are Jewish.
That’s pretty good, Susan.
I don’t want to pick on these parents; love is blind and parental love is blind, deaf and dumb. (I know; I are one.)
But it’s just so funny when your kid comes home with tales of other parents’ little angels taking off their shoes and smacking other kids in the cheek “for no reason!”
Or the kid in my wife’s class who was beating the daylights out of a kid and when pulled off him, told Cristie, “I was just getting my exercise, Miss Bosch!”
“I was just getting my exercise…” LOL! Agreed, we are all blind, deaf and dumb when it comes to our children. They are just magical beings! What I do find interesting is how the kids, at ages 2 and 3, already know who the bully is in their classes! My husband took a poll when dropping off our daughter the other day (the kids love him because they “roar like tigers” at him and he roars back) and seven of them named the same boy.
Yes, Scout the other day said. “Dad, you know what? I think Freda is a little mean.”
It’s funny, yes, but one of my kids was bullied in school this year to the point where we had to engage a psycologist to help said child over the trauma. Not so funny anymore. I know our instinct as parents is to find everything our kids do charming and delightful. But I hope if my child were behaving badly, someone would tell me in a calm, even way, so I could do something about it.
It’s funny, yes, but one of my kids was bullied in school this year to the point where we had to engage a psycologist to help said child over the trauma. Not so funny anymore. I know our instinct as parents is to find everything our kids do charming and delightful. But I hope if my child were behaving badly, someone would tell me in a calm, even way, so I could do something about it.