Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Well here we go...

Here is a message I received from Olivia's teacher today:

"Hi Tommie,
I was just curious if anything had changed at home for Olivia? She has been crazy in class this week! We have been loving hearing her talk and share with us, but I have had to get on her quite a few time for saying inappropriate things . Today’s was saying “poopie pants” during instruction. On the positive side, during snack, she said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Hey guys these were in my book bag!” I have also really had to keep on her about running in the classroom. I’m just kind of at a loss because I do not want to discourage her from talking, but can’t have her saying inappropriate things either…….any suggestions? "


Sigh...I was hoping we had a few years before behavior issues became the norm for her. Here's my reply:

"Thank you so much for the message. Wow. She loves to say things like that at home in hopes of getting a reaction. We try to redirect her attention when she starts doing that.

The only think I can think of is that her older sister, Alyssa, had surgery last week and has been laid up for a full week now. Alyssa hasn’t been in school since last Tuesday and she’s been on the couch pretty much constantly since the surgery.

My husband and I will talk to her tonight about the ‘naughty’ words she’s saying and remind her that she can’t say them at school any more than she can say them at home. She and her cousin Jaxon (he’s a year younger than she is) love to egg each other on and try to get the other in trouble by suggesting they say words they know aren’t appropriate (like poop, butt, ect.)

This is such a change from her behavior last year, when she was much more withdrawn rather than acting out in a way that draws attention to herself and distracts others.

Like you, I’m thrilled that she’s actually talking but definitely don’t want her to say things that are inappropriate.

Like I said, we’ll talk to her tonight and try to figure out what is triggering this. I’ll send you a message tomorrow morning on how the talks go tonight. I’ll also work with my husband and my mom (who is also on of Olivia’s caregivers) and see if we can come up with ways to redirect her energy into positive activities while continue to encourage her to participate in the class.

Thanks again for letting me know what is happening in the classroom."

I hope this comes was the response of a mother who wants to cooperate with the teacher, who wants the same thing as the teacher, for the child to behave, participate, engage in the classroom activities without being a distraction.

It occurred to me after sending the message that Olivia has had a cough for the past week or so and that just today, Tom gave her some cough medicine at about 10:30. I usually give it to her at about 6:30, which is might give it time to sort of wear off before school. So tomorrow, we'll go back to the early dosage time...

We'll see. I don't want her to be a distraction to her classmates. I want her to get as much as possible out of school and learn to interact with her peers in a positive manner.

This parenting thing just keeps getting harder and harder, doesn't it?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's wonderful that she has come out of her shell and feels comfortable enough to be so social. I'd say that's a plus!