Little boy blue
29 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
When we arrived at school this morning, Val realized he had forgotten his backpack.
This was a tricky one – do I run home and get it for him? I thought about it for about 10 seconds and realized the answer was no. It’s his responsibility to remember his backpack. Plus, I couldn’t think of anything in his homework folder that he had to turn in today.
“I had the noun worksheet, the story I had to read to you, and my spelling words in my homework folder,” he said, starting to turn into a very sad-looking little boy.
The thing about Val is he is very responsible; he’s all about following rules, especially at school. And I knew it would be very hard for him to show up at class without his homework folder.
But I also knew that he doesn’t ever have to turn the story back in, and the list of spelling words was simply a practice sheet for him to use each night at home. The only thing that really needed to be turned in was the noun worksheet.
And I also knew Val is a great student and that his teacher likely would give him a break. It’s the first time in his life that he’s forgotten his homework folder at home.
His little eyes were starting to well up with tears and, I’ll admit, I so badly just wanted to run back home and grab his backpack. I told him that we should walk down and talk to his teacher and find out if he can turn in the noun worksheet tomorrow. I reminded him what a great kid he is and said she probably would be OK with that since he’s such a good student.
She was all smiles when we walked in. Val explained that he’d gotten “too busy” at home this morning and forgot his backpack and could he hand in his homework tomorrow? (I think he said it all in one breath.)
“Yes you can,” she said. “Valon, you do a really good job and you always remember to bring your homework back everyday. It’s OK with me if you bring your homework tomorrow.”
The things that turn our little boy blue. I hope he’s feeling better now.
