My kid gets pink slips....a lot.

"So what I told you was true...from a certain point of view"

~Obi Wan Kenobi

Yesterday, I spent 13 hours driving to, sitting in, and driving home from a training class.  It was a long day to say the least.  I was about half way home, singing to the radio and trying to enjoy the commute when the phone rang and I heard the Hubs' voice through the car speakers.  His first words, "Cam got another pink slip today."  Me:  "WHAT?  ANOTHER ONE?"  Yes, that makes two in a row this week.  Me:   "FOR.THE.LOVE.  For What?"  For stepping out of line and shutting the door to the closet while the teacher was inside of it (I'm guessing half of you will ::gasp:: and half of you will ::snicker::)

Here's the problem:  My kid is guilty of not always making the best choices.  She doesn't think of consequences before she acts.  I'm not making excuses for her, I recognize that it's an issue and I'm hoping as she matures it'll lock in to place for her.  But, if my kid is going to get a pink slip every time she makes a poor choice or doesn't follow directions, then I might as well buy the school a ream of pink paper, because they are going to run out! 

Isn't this what preschoolers do?  Is my child the only one getting written up for stepping out of line?  Is she the only one that gets written up for poor choices?  Historically, pink slips are used for incidents when a child hurts another child, kicks, hits, bites, or suffers some sort of injury.  In this instance, the injury was to the teacher.  Was she so upset she wrote her up?  Was she embarrassed that Cam shut her in the closet?  Did the other children laugh and wound her ego?  I really don't know but I'm tired of signing those pink sheets of paper.  I'm tired of having "the talk" with Cam about poor choices.  I'm tired of a school that is so rigid and strict with its policies that it leaves little room for children to behave like children.  I'm tired of the overwhelming feeling that my kid is perceived as "the bad kid." 

Thankfully, this is the only year that Cam has had a less than a positive experience at our school.  For whatever reason, she is not gelling with her teacher, or her class, and the result is that she's taken several steps backwards socially, but has soared academically.

For those of you that are Faithful Readers you may remember this post about the drama with classroom assignments for this year or this one on how orientation went..  As I read back, I find my intuition to be almost eerie....this year has turned out to be exactly the way I hoped it wouldn't.  As positive as I try to be, as much as I wished things would pull together this year, I realize that it's not going to happen. 

I really don't think it's going to get better, we are just going to get through it.  So, while I hate to wish time away, while I hate to look forward to the next step, I am...just like I predicted in August. 

Kindergarten has to bring better things for my bright, energetic, little girl, who absolutely bubbles over with excitement and curiosity.  School life for her (as much as she absolutely loves it) has to get better than this.  She needs to be engaged more, challenged more, praised more for good deeds, she needs a teacher with endless patience and a more credentials.  I am wishing on a star that Kindergarten brings her that.

This rant isn't the way things usually go around here, but this situation has caused me astronomical amounts of stress this year...It finally deserved a spot here, in my online memoir.  My hope is that next year, I'll look back at this and wonder why in the world it had to be so difficult...

In better news, I've been working with Camdyn on a computer based Learn to Read program.  She beams when she gets answers right.  I think it's really wonderful for her self esteem as well as her listening skills.    Well, last night, during story time she read her first word...G-O, GO!  ::Head explode::