emotions - not mine

I know that girls are notoriously emotional creatures, drama queens.  Well, it's not exclusive to the female gender.

The boys' birthday party is coming up this weekend.  I do believe that each boy invited has a controversy with at least one other boy in the group!  Bear with me... Patrick and Ricky had a little tiff last week, but I think they have worked it out.  Thomas declares that Patrick wants to break up his friendship with the twins.  Andrew doesn't treat Thomas kindly.  Jake didn't want Mickey invited - I don't know what Jake's beef is with Mickey because they were in the same class last year and are in cubscouts together.  Mickey is a nice boy, but he is a little delayed.  I think that is the reason, but it's really hard for a mom to admit that their kid is discriminatory, ya know.  Nicholas and Sean have both had frackuses (is that a word?) with my guys, even though they are all fine now.  LOL!  This is going to be an interesting party!  Hopefully the bowling will be so much fun that they won't have time to go all dramatic.

Also on the emotional front... Last night Ryan burst into tears saying that he didn't want to move, he likes Hawaii and he'll miss his "fwends".  I know he is crying about this because Sean, who lives next door, is in the process of moving to a house on post.  I feel so bad for him.  But I tried to reassure him that we would email his friends and it wouldn't be for another year and to enjoy his friends now, and that even if we stayed, it wouldn't stay the same because his friends would move...  yeah, logic doesn't make you feel better.

Oh, one emotional thing for me.  Paranoia?  Last year the administration declared that they thought children should go straight home from school and do their homework.  That didn't work for a lot of us.  I want my kids to have time to blow off steam after a hard day of school and socialize with their friends who are in a different grade.  Plus the playground is exceptional.  Then they asked that the kids not play on the playground for 15 minutes after school, so the kids waiting to be picked up will be sitting on the wall ready to get into the car when their parent drives up. (we do not have a bus system, well, it's a privately owned thing and hardly anyone uses it)  So this year, the principal has declared that no one play on the playground for 30 minutes after school.  Mind you, this is a public playground.  It is on community property that happens to be adjacent to the school.  It is not under the school jurisdiction.  The principal actually brought out her microphone to get the kids off the playground.  She has personally reprimanded my kids.  This will not be dropped by me and the other moms that also want their kids to play after school.  We did not confront her at the playground in front of our kids, but she will hear it at the next PTSA meeting.  Not that it will do any good....  What an ogre.  No wonder kids are being pulled out of the school en masse.  Did you know there is a rule of "no running on the playground"!  The horror!  How dare kids actually play!  Anyway, some moms are buying into the "party line", that they can't possibly know who is supposed to be sitting on the wall to wait for their moms or not.   And some moms are also making up other excuses for the admin. like "maybe they were threatened with a lawsuit".  Ha!  I say the principal is on a power trip and really wants the parents to take their kids straight home to do homework like she thinks we ought to parent.  Now, if you know me, you know this is so unlike me.  I've really got my hackles up.  I'm a very compliant person, by the rules, not totally sure of my parenting and I never "read between the lines" or see conspiracy in anything (I'm very naive).  To me, this is a slap in the face.  Plus I think she needs to worry more about her release policy.  It's bell rings, and the kids scatter to the four winds.  No protection.

There.  I said my piece.  At least for now.  Open House at school is fixin to happen.