Mama Bear Goes to School

First of all, I must thank all of you for your kind and encouraging comments to my post about The May Queen being teased at school. Your love and advice were much appreciated.

Today this Mama Bear went to school to protect her Cub. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic. I didn't bat away the pesky children with my large, sharp clawed paw. There was no growling involved. Instead, I sat my Mama Bear behind in a small blue chair and talked with MQ's teacher. She was as kind and loving and sweet of a kindergarten teacher as you could possibly dream. It seems as if it is about the best case scenario, in that the "teasing" is not specifically targeted at MQ, and that most of it isn't actual teasing at all, but rather a form of playing. For instance, I brought up the "you stink" insult, and it seems as if they were playing a game of tag, where rather than saying "you're it!" the kids would yell "you stink!" The teacher readily agreed that this isn't a good idea, and will help the kids change the way the game is played. She promised to talk generally to all the kids about playing together, speaking kindly, and including everyone. She will also be on the lookout for this kind of behavior when the kids are playing so it can be dealt with. I was proud of myself for not crying (I'm tired and having some kind of sinus craziness and rather prone to tears these days) and very pleased with how kind and open MQ's teacher was. We talked a bit about MQ being more sensitive, perhaps, than the other kids to this sort of thing, but how that shows an understanding of hurtful things and right and wrong. The teacher then went on to give a bit of a review of MQ's strengths and weaknesses - and while I won't got into all of them here, I sure was a proud (if not a bit surprised!) Mama Bear to hear that my little girl is always kind, friendly, and easily shares. Her teacher told me the story about how for a few days there was a special needs girl in the classroom - trying to determine if she was ready to come into a regular kindergarten class. One day the mother was there with her, and MQ was sitting with them at lunch. MQ said to the girl "Someday when you come over to play out my house....." Her teacher said that while MQ and the girl talked together, the mother's eyes filled with tears of joy, to hear someone be so kind to her daughter.

And so I know that the lessons we are trying to teach her are sinking in. She will not always do the right thing. She will sometimes be more hurt by the teasing of other kids than she needs to be. She may some days even be the kid yelling "you stink!" But hopefully, with her sensitive heart, there will be more days where she is sitting with the odd girl out, and inviting her to play.