Defined Management

We just got an email from one of our children's teachers for next year. The email contained a list of supplies needed for Back to School. I told Dear Hubby that I appreciated the advance notice, but wondered why I needed to send supplies like a ream of copy paper for general school use. His whitty remark was something to the effect of, "Well, that is why the United Order won't work, is because of whiny people like you, har, har."

I continued to vent that I wouldn't have such an issue with sending supplies if it were not for the abuse of the donations that I see. There is no respect or care given to the supplies. The ultimate case in point was this year's last day of school. In my daughter's class, all the pencils, markers, notebooks, folders, general supplies (supplies that parents donated) were laid out on the tables for a free-for-all, come-and-get-it fair. My daughter came home with a huge bag of dry-erase markers, manila folders, pencils, hand sanitizer, and colored pencils. The girl does not need these things.

I will bet that if those things were saved and, I don't know, passed on to the next teacher for next year, I may not have to spend $50 + on school supplies for each student next year. To this my husband responded, "What's your problem? Why can't you be a team player? Be part of the solution, not the problem. Am I catching on to my new Manager role yet?" My retort was, "No, you sound unsympathetic, condescending and self-righteous. If that's what you were aiming for, you hit it on the head."

Supported my Son

My son is in 4th grade. His class trades with the other 4th grade teacher for science and social studies. This other teacher gave an assignment. There is a poster in the school that reads, "In God We Trust". He told the class to make a new poster. They would display the new posters so that those in the school that don't believe in God could see that they at least have something in common with their peers; In FAMILY I trust, or In NATURE I trust. The problem is, my son doesn't want to put anything but God. He's a very sober kid and tries to do what's right almost to a fault of breaking down at the slightest mistake. It turned into a family discussion about what we trust. In the end, my son says that anything else that we suggest to put isn't as trustworthy as God. My husband wanted him to just put God then. I was trying to come up with words like, "truth" or "Jesus", but my son says that that's only playing into the teacher's trap to remove God. After calling the teacher to feel out whether he would accept my son choosing to leave the word "God" as what he trusts, he wouldn't bend. He insisted that the kids should know that there are others things to trust in other than God. I told him that it sounds like a good lesson in bringing awareness to the fact that not all others believe like you, but that if my son should respect their choice not to trust God, they should respect his choice to put God as the One he trusts. I told him that it's like he's saying, "If you could have grass be any color than green, what would you pick?" If my son considers the options and researches other alternatives and STILL says, "I think green is the best choice after all," isn't that still a choice? A choice to leave it as it is? The teacher would not accept that argument. The thing is, this teacher always sends home notes about how much he admires my son and his respect for others. My son gets awards for being respectful and helpful to teachers and peers. I told my son that I'd support him in whatever he chose to put, but that his teacher might not accept the assignment if he didn't change the word. He is willing to take a failing grade ON THIS ASSIGNMENT to show the other kids that also wanted to leave it as "In GOD we trust" that they could choose that, to show the teacher and the Lord that he isn't ashamed of his trust and thinks that there's nothing to apologize for.

My son came home and said, "I have to fight this battle. The teacher kept saying that we have an 'In God We Trust' poster and that I needed to change the word. I changed the words. My poster said, "In GOD I trust." He felt that the "I" meant "You can trust whomever you'd like, but I trust the Lord."

I am proud of his choice to put what he believes in. After all- What is right isn't always popular, and what is popular isn't always right.

Did Nothing

BG has a diorama due in 2 weeks on harp seals and their environment. Usually she hems and haws until the last moment then whines and cries that I'm not helping her and throws something uninspired together. So I decided to wait and see if she was going to make good use of the 2 weeks to plan, sketch, design and create.

She surprised me. She asked for a box right away and I told her to put her ideas on paper first. She had some great ideas and started to work on the box. Then BB offered some ideas that got them both excited and they brainstormed on how to make it work.

She started gluing and cutting. I was popping in and out not quite sure what to think of this new-found exuberance. After 2 hours of work, she carried in her diorama and I was floored!


There is a top layer of ice with a hole in it. Next to the hole is a polar bear. Under the ice are blue fish and eels (which harp seals eat) hanging by string. The seals are to the left under the ice. They are attached to a stick that moves back and forth so the seals can "catch" the fish. The big white chunks of paper on the top of the ice are the icebergs.

I was impressed. And she did it herself. No whining. No procrastinating. Just good, old-fashioned creativity and 2nd grader know-how.

Then the girls had some time to kill before bed, so they decided to play cards. BEG didn't like where she ended up sitting because she would have to look at the cards upside down. She started crying and pouting. I was about to announce that she was too tired and should go to bed, when BBG told her bigger sister that she could trade her places and "have my spot- K?" AW! What a sweet peacemaker. I told BBG that I was proud of her for being so grown up. And I told BEG that BBG knew how to be kind because she had seen the examples of her older sisters. I was glad that the older two could see that BBG is watching what they do and that there lots of good to rub off onto her.