Well, as many of you probably predicted, my middle schooler came home from school on Monday with the exact opposite of mood then when she left. She dragged herself out and bounced her way in.Meaning: she was no longer bleak and wimpy.
What happened to change the dynamic so drastically?
She talked with her teacher. Eureka!
You know, it really is amazing what happens when you open your mouth and communicate. People listen, begin to understand and changes can take place.
We are all about communication in this house, as freely and as unencumbered as possible. Within reason, of course!
She went to her band teacher, first thing, and asked if she could play the song for the quiz in private. I wish I was a fly on the wall to see how she looked: down cast, uncharacteristically glum, scared poop-less probably.
He said, (insert suspenseful music here - Dun-Dun-Dun!) "Of course, come in tomorrow morning before home room."
Wow! After all that! How anticlimactic! But, extremely illustrative to how we all build up so much manufactured anxiety when it really is no big deal. You know, like a mountain out of a mole hill?
I suppose these sorts of encounters need to happen because I am sure I would get the requisite eye ball roll if I regaled her about that mountain or that mole hill myself.
Some things you just have to go through.
I asked her how everyone else did on the quiz. I have to document this here because she only admits I was right fairly infrequently.
She said, "Mom, you were right. A bunch of other kids forgot about the quiz until Sunday night and had to scramble like me. And, one kid," (complete with blushes because it is the boy she likes) completely forgot and didn't realize there was a quiz until he walked into the band room!"
Ahh...sweet retribution.
So, she practiced the quiz song a good long while on Monday night and ended up getting 19 out of 20 the next morning.
Tragedy averted...until the next time.
1 comment:
Great job, and isn't it wonderful when communication skills kick in.
That same day my daughter also crawled into school and bounced out unexpectedly cheerful since she had finally implemented some of the social skill cues that we had practiced in the car and they had worked. We do role playing in the car all the time.
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