welcome to the wonderful world of boys

My first child is so good. Too good, actually, and that is one thing that is hard about parenting her. She fears authority figures more than she should, and she doesn't handle her imperfections well. She's kind of a typical first child.

My second child is bringing me new challenges that I didn't see coming. He's been in trouble at school this week, so I am being introduced to what it's like to have a kid who isn't always trying to be good. It's not terribly serious, and anyone who knows my son knows that he is a gentle, thoughtful person. But he is also six, and a boy, and on a mission to be in the "funny club" at school.

I emailed his teacher this week about what I had heard from Frank about him getting "yellow cards" and a "red card" in class. The way I understand it, everyone starts out the school day with a green card. If they make some not good choices, they get their green card taken and exchanged for a yellow card. If they make BAD choices, they get a red card.

Here is the email I got back from the teacher this morning.

Does it make me a bad parent if I laughed when I read it? No kids saw me while I was laughing, and I did tell little Mr. Funny Club that if he came home with anything but a green card today, he would get a consequence that he would not like. He looked nervous enough about that, so I think I'm on the right track with this. Time will tell, I guess. We shall see...

Hi Kate,

Monday he got a yellow card for poking holes in pink
erasers with pencils. He had to write: Ich werde Dinge
respektieren. 3 x.

Tuesday he got a red card for holding two sharpened
pencils 2 inches away from a neighbors eye and smiling
while doing it. He had to write: Ich werde Leute
respektieren. 5 x.

Wednesday he got a yellow card for repeatedly getting
off task while doing his work. He had to write: Ich
werde arbeiten. 3 x.

Other than those times, he has behaved fine. He has
not brought his math homework book in for a few days
though.

Herr S.