The Rant

I just need a few minutes here to vent. And all my ventees are unavailable, so now I'll inflict it on the public at large.

So, all of these years that my kids have been in school, we've never lost a coat, jacket, or sweatshirt. Sure, they might have been temporarily located in the lost and found, but ultimately, the involved child and I had words, and the article of clothing was retrieved and returned home.

But now, now Rex is in school. What does that mean? you might ask. Well, first, Rex is completely oblivious to temperature changes until they are extreme. This is not his fault; I truly believe that it has to do with his sensory integration issues...his nerve system is just wired somewhat differently than the rest of ours, and he either doesn't register things the way the rest of us would, or he over-registers them (I don't know which is worse). And second, Rex has a sometimes-amusing, sometimes-exasperating superfaith in his own knowledge that he clearly knows more than his mom or dad.

How this translates is thus: basically, when Mom or his teacher at school tells him that the weather is chilly enough for a sweatshirt, he first argues that he doesn't need one; second agrees to take it just to end the conversation (a normal kid tactic, I'd say); but it's the 3rd step in this process that's the kicker...third, he loses the offending article of clothing.

So, this morning when the wind chill is down in the 30s for the first time this fall, he has no sweatshirts or jackets to take to school for his field trip to a local "farm." They're going to be out-of-doors all day. Now, as a parenting-with-love-and-logic kind of parent, I'd say he could just go on the field trip without, and suffer the consequences, darn it, if he completely "forgets" every day to go to the lost and found and locate his clothing (which, btw, even if he went, he wouldn't find anything even if it were staring him in the face). However, I do have my pride as a mother...especially when it comes to being the mother of 5, which means that lots of times people are judging you and the "fact" that you allegedly don't take as good of care as the last kiddos as you did the first, which means that you don't love them as well (please don't try to deny this; perhaps I'm a very judgmental person; but really, how do you think I know people are thinking things like this?). I do have my pride as a mother, you know. Oh, I said that already.

So, I sent Rex off to school this morning with one of Caleb's sweatshirts, and the dire threat that if he lost this sweatshirt, he would have to pay Caleb $20 for it. Poor kid, he had a complete breakdown, because currently he only has $1. So, then I told him that he would have to work for Caleb by being his slave until the sweatshirt was paid for, theoretically of course.

Gee, I must wonder at this point, how this is going to come back to me when I next talk to his teacher.

Ok, done venting now. Thanks! :)