Check this Back-To-School Item off your list

Backpack - check

Lunch box - check

Clothes - check

Shoes - check



School supplies - check. Even the last minute add-ons they do in the 11th hour.

And it's a big year here at our house, we have a MIDDLE SCHOOL-ER.

And though I have bought the necessary supplies, how do I prepare my children for bullies, snarky kids, and just plain mean people? 

We have already dealt with some not so nice mouthy kids. I offered three suggestions:

1. You gotta get thick skin and ignore them
2. Tell them something witty, like, "You will probably still be living with your parents when you are 40 and I will remember this when I am your boss"

3. Kindly offer them some laxative infused brownies

 

Number one turned out to be the best. 

And, I remember middle school.... aah.....Brandy was gonna beat me up on numerous occasions. Probably because I wore fake K-Mart Nikes or something silly like that.  We had a good laugh ten years later when I saw her and said, "Remember when...."

I am sure she is still living with her parents. 

So, as I was sitting in the Middle School parking lot on "Meet the teacher" night with my child, I saw one 6th grader wearing a backpack.  I casually said, "Ooo, aren't you glad you didn't wear your backpack on meet the teacher night?"
The reply after a long pause, "Mom, that's my friend."

Oops.  Just add that comment to my other one about the highlighters and pens in the outside pocket of the backpack looking baby-ish... Hey, I am parent of the year here.   
 

But a nice note written to my child from a fellow parent reminded me that maybe the tools our kids need aren't that far out of reach after all.  And I am going to learn to keep my mouth shut.  Really.

 

 

Sandy Hook ~ A month later

Every Christmas Eve, in Tarpon Springs, Florida on the Bayou,
they light thousands of white luminary bags with a candle for someone special.
It is a beautiful sight. 

 Normally, these bags have the names of those living and deceased..... 

but this year, they mostly were in memory of someone.   

There was a large section dedicated to the 

Sandy Hook Elementary School children. 

 My oldest was overwhelmed by all the children's names and began crying, saying, 

"I just feel like if I can remember one persons name and pray for them, 

I have helped in some way." 

I was moved.... proud.... and sad. 

I think it is safe to say, the holidays had a somber underlying tone for everyone. 

I had also read about a little girl in Griffin, GA who was found dead Dec. 22. 

She was only nine. 

Her neighbor was arrested almost immediately, maybe that is why it didn't make the national news.  

Her name is Skylar Dials. 

Thankfully, my children knew nothing of it. 

I couldn't stop thinking about her though... I figured that was the least I could do. 

Last night my youngest was up till 11:00 p.m., calling out every so often,
"Mom, dad, are you there?"
"Just making sure you are okay."

This isn't part of our "normal" bedtime routine. 

I think the sporadic new bedtime has something to do with the poem my oldest had just written, so here it is,

The Sandy Hook Massacre through a child's eyes. 

As everyday passes by,

I wonder why things happen the way they do.

And I try and try not to dwell on it. 

But I get to thinking…

They didn’t deserve to die,

Why was it so many lives?

Those innocent, 

Don’t deserve to die. 

At least they lived happy lives.

We’ll grieve and grieve,

But try to accept it.

‘Cause they didn’t deserve this.

What did they do to you.

Did they ever hurt him in any way?

Why, why did he take their lives and his own?

What a cowardly act,

doing that.

Every time I think about it I am chilled to the bone.

So why, why…

Did he kill them all?

They were so small. 

They didn’t have to die,

but they did.

And he did.

Once again, I am moved.... proud.... and sad.