Bad Parenting

If you are a parent, there is one thing you should know and that is how much your child loves you and what they are willing to do to not make you feel bad. This morning Cronius came into class, his mother made him a special lunch today, a sloppy joe, his favorite. The problem with his lunch today was that it ended up leaking inside his backpack. It got on his homework and apparently leaked on other items in his lunch bag.

Cronius was handling the day well, until we started getting close to the end of the day. He came up to me, crying, and said he had a feeling in his stomach. Immediately trying to cheer him up, I told him we needed some background music like in the movies. I decided to play Horton Hears a Who, "I Can't Stop This Feeling." Okay, he had a feeling, I instantly thought of the song. I put the song on and he responds I think this helping, but when the song ended, he was still upset.

I decided to sit him down at the round table with me to have the first of many small counseling sessions I will have with students this year. It seems that Cronius first off didn't want to turn in the homework that all the lunch leaked on today, he didn't want to get a bad grade. I decided let's tackle one problem at a time. My response was that homework was a material object, who cares if it got wet, oh well, things happen. Cronius said then he will get a bad grade and he won't be able to go to college. I tell Cronius that colleges won't care if he forgot to turn in his homework in fourth grade. He told me they will, so I asked him what is stopping him from turning in his homework today. He said it was wet and one of the papers was torn because it got wet. I handled the problem by telling him to turn in his work. I can be very strict, but very understanding, wet papers, not a big deal.

This wasn't the end of Cronius' problems. You see deep down what was really bothering him was that he didn't want to make his mom feel bad that his lunch leaked on his homework and ruined the rest of his lunch. I asked him why this would make his mom feel bad? He answered because then his mom would feel like a bad parent. I told him he had two choices: one to not tell mom about the lunch leaking or to tell her. If he opted to not tell her, the problem would be if she ever packed the same lunch, he could encounter another leaky mess. If he decided to tell her, I don't think she would feel like a bad parent. "She will Ms. J." he said. Well, Cronius, the decision is yours, if I were you, I would let her know, because if the only thing she has done to be considered a bad parent is a leaking lunch, then your mom is doing a pretty awesome job!

Cronius left the round table in a pretty good mood, but I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what he decided to do.