All of my years of volunteering and parenting, all of my years deep breathing in the hall closet while my kids watched Sesame Street, had prepared me for this one moment in time.
The following phone call was left out of my childâs CUM file.
(Thatâs short for âcumulative recordsâ, the master file that follows your childâs school career from kindergarten through graduation and holds their rap sheet.)
But it explains everything.
âHello?â I said, putting down laundry and happy for the distraction.
âHello Mrs X, this is Mr A, the school principal.â
âOh! Hi! Are you calling about the project weâre working on?â Big smile.
âUm, no, not this time. I need to discuss your youngest son with you, if you have a minute.â
âOf course.â I sat down.
âIt seems that thereâs some trouble. I took a phone call from a parent today who is very upset.â
Pause.
âShe said that her son came home from school today and told her that while he and your son were playing in the sand box during lunch, your son told him he had a knife in his pocket.â
âWhat?â I said, âMy son doesnât even own one.â
âWell,â continued the principal, âI called your son into the office and asked him about it. He admitted right away that he had told the other boy that, and then reached into his pocket and handed meâŚnail clippers. He said he was only pretending while they played.â
âOh. That sounds right.â
âI explained to the mother that your child did not have a pocket-knife, he had little nail clippers. She pointed out that claiming to have a switchblade on campus is unacceptable.â
âIf my son had said he was packing a light-saber, would that have been an issue?â
He quickly finished his speech, âThe consequences for bringing a weapon to school are a parent/principal conference and an automatic three day suspension.â
âExcuse me?â I said. Perhaps with a little edge to it.
âMrs X, I was very clear in my discussion with this concerned parent, but she insists that your son be punished for claiming to have a dangerous and threatening item at school.â
Then there was a very pregnant pause.
This was my cue.
Reading between the lines, I saw him caught between a rock and a hard spot.
Now, this most excellent principal knows my entire family and he has my respect in return. He knows, before even talking to my son, that the kid wouldnât have a clue about bringing a knife to school, and that he couldnât harm a fly if he had to.
I know that he knows that suspending my kid is ludicrous.
But.
I also know that he knows what that crazy hyper-involved hyper-ventilating helicopter mom will do if I decide to challenge this situation with the righteous wrath of aâŚcrazy hyper-involved hyper-ventilating helicopter mom.
Had she checked her own sonâs pockets for imaginary weapons?
Our most excellent principal could see this going south in a very bad way if I were to get all eye-twitchy over it.
âWell,â I finally said, âMr A, just go ahead and make her happy. Maybe itâs silly what my kid did, but it wonât hurt him to know that even little fibs are a bad idea.â
His relief was palpable over the phone line.
âOh, Mrs X,â he said, âI have to fill out a suspension form, but Iâm going to write very clearly that your son was innocent and exactly why.â
âHe can skip school for the next three days, heâll enjoy the holiday.â
âIt has to stay in his permanent school records, Iâm afraid.â
I laughed.
âWell, Mr A, then so be it. The kid goes where no sibling has ever gone before him, and thatâs a fact. I donât think his checkered past will affect his chances of becoming a neurosurgeon.â
âThank you Mrs X.â
âHave a good week. See you on Monday.â
đ
Good for you Jolie my dear you are a wonderful Mother and your story was great, thank you for showing what a loving Mother does to support her children….. May God Bless you always……
Matthew is proud to have been suspended for bringing “explosives” to Jr. High. What he actually brought to school were 4th of July pop caps. You know, the little white paper things you throw on the ground and they make a noise? Yeah…explosives. Oh, how the letter of the law can get you in trouble. Combine that with “zero tolerance” and things could really go south. I hope kid five learned his lesson about the dangers of nail clippers. : )
Crazy hyper-involved hyper-ventilating helicopter moms drive all us normal ones crazy! Good way to handle it, in the long run your kid was the one who learned a valuable lesson, hers…. just another “your entitled” moment learned from his mom. His mother could have easily explained to him that he was pretending and that there was no real threat and how bad it could have ended up…. but instead she chose to overreact telling herself she was doing some service to others…..
You were amazing. I am not sure I could have kept my cool. But I think you did the right thing.
What a world we live in.