Last week ended with a small smack-down for parents of a tween. Kt came home... of course, on the day T flew out to Wisconsin!... a basket case. Apparently, a rumor was started at school over a week ago. It was a not nice rumor at all, and one that involved the word "gay", which while that conjures up many connotations for adults, it means something entirely different, or less involved, than it does for a 10 year old. Somehow, Kt was named in a group of four students who either started or spread this rumor. The teacher rounded up this motley crew, along with the victim and reemed them out, threatened to take away their safety belts, (note to self: this punishment is equal to high security federal prison in the mind of a tween) and sent them home without even a call home.
Now, things just did not add up for me. Kt was inconsolable and seemed completely flabbergasted that someone would think she had done this. She could not recall having anything to do with either starting or spreading this rumor other than hearing about it. I felt like I needed a better idea of what was going on, so I emailed her teacher, got an odd reply, emailed again, got a phone call.... long story short, I was not the only parent who thought something was not right, the teacher is no longer involved, nobody lost their safety badges and we got to reiterate the seriousness and ramifications of rumors with our daughter. Wow, all that in one weekend.
I recognize this is all very lightweight. In fact, the teacher and guidance counselor have both admitted that Kt likely had nothing to do with anyone and was falsely accused. I'm not happy about that, but it's over for now. It was a reminder to us that as perfect as we may think our child is, we all have weak moments that we regret. It's going to happen again sometime, and next time it might be worse than this. In fact, I can almost guarantee it will be worse! Hopefully next time I'll be a bit more prepared!
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