Posted by Kimberly on December 8th, 2006 — Posted in The Ladies, Diva Girl, Zen Baby, Kipple, iVillage
As part of our Snow Day fun, we’ve been using the snow on the balcony to make candy. Diva Girl is about to head out to get another batch, and in deference to the elements, she’s decided to put on some PJs first. The Shaolin Toddler wants to go too, but is unwilling to change from her natural state of au natural to something slightly more weather appropriate.
With nearly 8 years of parenting experience to my name, I have a black belt in Toddler Fu; so I know that if I insist on the jammies, The Toddler Formerly Known As Zen will commit to her nakedness with a conviction that would boggle the mind of the most rabid religious fundamentalist. I must be crafty to accomplish my goal; I have to make it seem like I don’t really care either way while convincing her that walking outside into the snow without a stitch on really isn’t the best idea. While I’m pondering my strategy, Diva Girl takes matters into her own hands.
“Regan, if you go outside like that, you’ll freeze your butt off!”
“Yeah. But then I will pick it up and put it back on again.”
It’s really, really hard to argue with logic like that. Mostly because I’m laughing so hard.
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Posted by Kimberly on December 7th, 2006 — Posted in Diva Girl, No Pudding Until You Finish Your Meat, iVillage, Heathers
Things have been going really well for Diva Girl at school lately. Her grades are good, she’s been happy, and she even got the Friendship Award last month. Not too shabby, considering how we started this year.
There was a small bobble a couple of weeks ago when she announced that Heather was “losing friends.” At first I thought that Heather was finally getting her comeuppance, and I’ll confess that I didn’t feel too badly for the Queen B. Turns out that Heather herself had decided it was time to lose some friends–seems she felt she just had too many, and needed to cull the herd. That part of the story made me roll my eyes. The part where Sabrina told her that it was ok if she didn’t want to be her friend anymore, that she understood and would be sad but not mad, brought tears to them. The fact that Sabrina made the cut didn’t really do much to change my opinion about the whole affair, but other than that incident, things have been so quiet that I stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And then came the Christmas concert.
Guess who has a solo. For the third time in a row. And guess who isn’t very happy about it.
It’s a tricky situation. On the one hand, this isn’t Heather’s fault. For once, I don’t believe her manipulations have much to do with the situation. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that the music teacher has a habit of playing favourites, arbitrarily assigning the plum roles to the same students, year after year. It wouldn’t be fair under any circumstances, but in a primary choir it seems to be a particularly odious practice. If ever there was a time to allow every student who wanted the opportunity a chance to shine, this would be it. After all, it’s awfully hard to get across the message that you have to do the best with the gifts you have, even if sometimes that means shining in the chorus, when the kids see same people singled out every. single. time. As a teacher, I’d be very disturbed by what is going on here, even if my child wasn’t the one singing the “it’s not fair!” blues.
As a mom, I’m not sure what to do here. I do not want to be That Parent. You know, That Parent who is always complaining. The squeaky wheel parent who is convinced that without her vigourous defense, her child is destined to get the short end of the stick. That Parent who goes into to school and makes the teacher take the part away from Heather and give it to her child. That is exactly the parent Diva Girl wants me to be, though.
She wants me to “fix” this. And while I know that in her view, fixing it means telling the music teacher to give her a solo, I’m not sure that would really fix anything. Even if the teacher did bow to my will, it would simply be trading one injustice for another. And that’s not fair to anyone.
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Posted by Kimberly on December 5th, 2006 — Posted in Kipple, No Pudding Until You Finish Your Meat, iVillage
One good thing about the temperature dropping into the negatives: Between the snowpants, the scarf, and the toque, nobody can tell that you’ve just rolled out of bed and haven’t bothered to get dressed yet when you drop the kid off at school.
Unless, of course, said kid decides to anounce to the assembled mommies and daddies that Mama isn’t wearing any pants.
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