Full Moon?

Wow. That about sums it up. Maybe even Double-Wow. We have had some drama around here lately.

Squeaker was suspended for the third time this school year. Even in a specialized classroom she has difficulty maintaining emotional control. It has been building up all week and yesterday she lost it in an episode on the bus which involved much profanity and hitting a disabled student. Her teacher is such a great guy and so understanding. He is always quick to complement her behavior and accomplishments when she is doing well...which is a lot of the time. Her frustration with the day continued to mount throughout the afternoon and resulted in her losing all good sense and running away by evening. Once I discovered she was missing, I found her within 20 minutes, shoeless in the cold but on her way back home. Still she refused to get in the car running each time I stopped. I had to make about four U-turns and stops before I could get her to come with me. This blew the regularly scheduled plans for the evening making Peaches have to wait an extra half hour getting picked up from night school and Ana having to leave an event at the boys school early...

Leading to the other drama of the evening....the event was an informational meeting for parents and 4/5th students about the school's upcoming science fair. Upon being forced to leave early the boys decided they were going to FAIL the 4th and 5th grades reducing Drama Boy to sobbing wails and Sparky to sullen defiance and both to name-calling and insults. Although they returned to the meeting and got everything they needed, the behaviors would not abate. Sparky was still raging at dinnertime and refused to come to the table. The rocky emotionalism and irrational belief-system that runs these kids brains is stunning at times. No amount of reassurance and calm explanation will sway them from their doom-filled predictions of their fates. Much of Drama Boy's, well, drama and Sparky's angry oppositional behavior stems directly from their whacky view of themselves as victims of every situation. They will not be convinced otherwise and become infuriated at the mention of other possibilities. But we'll keep trying.


"In coming to understand anything we are rejecting the facts as they are for us in favour of the facts as they are."
C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

Onward and upward!