Hey All, Haven't had time to check in lately. DD has been dealing with racist little children at school. Lovely. DD is in 3rd grade at one of the better schools in the district. When we first came to school last year, she was upset because black kids at school teased her ("whitey", etc). The girl that defended her has become her best friend, and now all of DD's friends are black. They are lovely girls, do Brownies with us, very sweet. Some of our best family friends are black, and we are more integrated than lots of people around us because of the nature of horse farms and the people who work there.
So for the last few months, DD has said off and on that some black boys are being mean to her and telling her black friends not to play with her. Thursday, DD gets in car in tears because boys called her a "burned biscuit" and when her friend defended her, they called her a "dirtbag from Africa". Bad, right?
No, it gets worse, because DS, ever the literal one and VERY interested in Geography, says, "Wow, Takaiya is from Africa!". So now we have to explain what this all means, why calling someone a biscuit is bad, why we don't say mean things about things people can't help like handicap, skin color, stuttering, etc.
So I ended up calling DS's Special Ed teacher, who is black, and telling her that it is possible that this topic could come up and to please tell DS's (black) homeroom teacher, just in case he tries to impress someone with a zinger line. Because he really doesn't get the whole racial sensitivity issue. (Sp.Ed teacher told me he recently wondered why she was called "black" when she was really light brown, and why she was an African American when she was really a Kentucky American. She then told me how much she loved the fact that my son spent so much time trying to figure this all out and would actually talk to her about it-i.e. Are there black people in Paris, are there Asian people who speak French, etc.).
Flashback: When DS was in Pre-K, I got call from teacher that DS was "racist". How could he be? His best friend out of school is black, etc. Turns out he was going through a stuttering period, and in the carpool line, two black kids were teasing him. Instead of saying, "I don't want to stand next to those two children". DS says, "I don't want to stand next to those black kids" and so teacher thought he was racist. See how this gets out of hand? His teacher's assistant had to defend DS and explain what happened.
Yesterday, after lots of talks to teachers and parents, we all agreed that it was wonderful that we COULD talk to each other about this. Funny thing, we all reached the same conclusion that the problem with MLK Day and Black History Month is that somehow the take home message to some children was that White people are bad and Black people are all struggling. The ball got dropped and some children (I"m guessing the ones whose parents say things like the N word and "biscuit") are missing the fact that their generation is now supposed to move on and stop seeing color as the primary indentifier.
SO I am so happy that no one freaked out when I tried to talk to them about it, that my kids learned a great lesson, and that My generation has learned something. I can't change the kids that are mean to DD, but at least I ripped the band-aid off so the infection can dry up. I ain't no stinkin' coward, Mr. Holder.
P.S. DS did his Black history project as Debbie Allen. He was wonderful at reading his lines (too bad he read them so only he could hear, but I can't be too rough- he did it in front of about 40 people). I was the only white parent who showed up to watch the performance. Half the class wasn't even prepared. I felt so awful for the teacher, but the kids who did do the work did a great job.
Becky, honey, it never was your soup. Don't eat the kid's soup. Or eat it and make DH replace it. What is it with canned soup and these kids? My son keeps Campbell' s soup in business. Soup is good food. But if he "called" it, then just stay away from it. If you got it for him, then leave it alone. It's radioactive. I could have told you that. (Sorry you felt bad. You deserve soup. Yuck. Life stinks. Hope you are better).
Disneylvr, my DS used to pinch kids, which is not as bad as biting, but had the same motivation- he couldn't think of a way to get someone's attention. So I had teachers make him carry a favorite toy. Two things accomplished: 1. DS had a thing to show other kids to get them to pay attention to him if he didn't have words to engage, and 2. His hands were full and you can't pinch and hold a toy. Worked like a charm.
Mechurchlady, great shopping. Did you read Temple Grandin when she explains how all animals have a "novelty" seeking gene which in human children is for toys, but also combines with the hunting gene as an adult to make bargain hunting great sport. You animal, you.
Yes, my Charter School model is interstate. If I accept Federal dollars, then I will have a fair and balanced faculty of equal numbers unionized teachers and visiting professionals from the science and business fields. We will examine the benefits of communism (our farming business) and capitalism (our clothing line and the effect our fabulous school will have on the enrollments at local schools that aren't as cool as we are). WDW is a mandatory field trip. In fact, all parents must be able to pass the WDW test before any applications will be processed. I just can't have non-Disney loving riff-raff in my school. I only deal with people with Character(s).
I wonder, do I have to be some teacher-ish person to actually apply for a Charter? We don't have any Charter Schools here,and the one they had in my old FL town was shut down for incompetence, which is hard for a school to do.
Mom went into the hospital with a fever and intense abdominal pain. This was the only time she'd been to teh hospital, other than childbirth. It wound up being her gallbladder, which they took out. She has to watch not to eat too much fatty food, but is otherwise fine. Have they given you anything for the pain?
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I'm sorry you feel bad. Hope it get's it's 24 hour bugness out in 12...
So I've been trying to avoid it, because they knock me out cold, and around here that's not a good idea.
Hold out for 1/2 hour and pick the kids up from school, then I can hide in my room for the evening. Hopefully. 
