Kids led astray.

We'd all like to think our kids have minds of their own and won't just follow the herd, but unfortunately that isn't always the case.

This is pretty small scale, but still.

Gia and Cath wanted very much to go to day camp. They were excited about it. Gia is friends with a girl named Tee. Tee lives with her mom and grandparents. She gets away with a lot and typically wants to do the very opposite of what everyone else wants to do.

Mom just called me and said Tee and Gia waltz into her office and Tee says "Hi granny." She sits down and rummages through Gia's lunch box. My mom asked them what they're doing and they said they didn't feel like doing what the other kids were doing and went into the workroom. More the case would be TEE didn't want to do what the other kids were doing and she was the one that did the asking.

And Gia follows.

So what do you do?

Since my mom saw the entire instance, I thought it was fine that she talk to Gia about using her head and not be talked into what Tee wants her to do.

Gia said at one point that she felt sorry for Tee. I can understand that and I also understand that Tee is not supervised and doesn't have to follow the rules. It's been my experience that when kids go off and do "their own thing", that's when trouble occurs.

Tee is always the one that draws attention to herself. She drops her paper or pencil all of the time or trips over things all of the time in order to get the attention. I know there's a reason for this. I like her too. But I can't help be irritated that Gia is following her lead. Gia and I have had this talk before. She's much more the follower than Cath is.

Gia just stood by while her friend was rude to Cath. I don't care what the hell is going on, Cath is family, the friend is not. They have to stand up for each other.

Maybe it's a girl thing. I remember my brother standing up for me and watching out for me (rather irritating in highschool when I was trying to skip class).

But ya know, watch out for each other. Don't be a follower. How do you instill this in your kids?

As it turned out, my mom called Gia into her office and told her she needed to go back downstairs. Tee said they didn't want to and mom said that Gia came here to go to camp and she needed to stay with the group. I thought she handled it well. She wasn't telling Tee what to do and let Gia know what needed to be happening.

I complain about my mom, but I think we've been so focused on Zachman's progression that she just didn't see that Boo was being treated differently. I also think my mom and I have a different dynamic. I lived with them for 2 or more years with the older kids and she feels like she can say things to me that she can't with my brother. I dunno.

The good thing here is that she called me and told me what she had done and I said because she saw the situation, I would be ok with her saying something about leaving the group. I will follow up. But before she says anything, mom always calls me.

last - next

5 comments so far
Tanya McBee Gunby | Create Your Badge