Kleptomaniac of sorts

Yes folks, you heard it here first! I am officially a kleptomaniac...

Well, not quite :0). I had one of "those days." Today I was grouchy & my 5th graders this morning were very well behaved, so I was able to have an easy going morning, no yelling or incidents of any kind.

I wish the afternoon could've gone as smoothly! I must say, that I have no kids--therefore my authority lies solely in my experiences over the last 4 years, with other people's children.

So back to my afternoon. One of my children, who shall remain nameless, decided to bust out his protractor while I was teaching area today. I had had a previous incident on Friday and asked all my math students not to bring protractors, as they were not needed any longer this year. Well today, out pops the protractor--I take it and tell the student that I will keep it until math is over. Oh no, you should have heard it..."Give it back" over and over and over. Slapping, kicking, hitting, shouting, OMGsh! Never in my life have I ever seen someone go off, I calmly restate, "You can have the protractor once math is over."

"You're a thief, GIVE IT BACK, NOW!" So onward he is drug from my classroom to the office--my teammate buzzed the emergency for me. I feel like the worst teacher today. I mean, I did give the warning, right? I didn't expect that reaction, but whatever! Now I can say, I know what those teachers feel like when pandamonium breaks out, fights, whatever.

Now onward to my parent note. Although I am not a parent, I feel I fall somewhere between parent & single--no kids etc. I mean I deal with kids all day? Like I said, I'm in the grey area, not as experienced as a parent, but still I know something, right?! Somewhere this child, who is now in 5th grade, learned that by throwing a temper tantrum he got his way. When did his parents not notice that they were loosing their control? Have they not seen it?

I swear folks, if I were to have a Parent/Teacher Conference this week, parents wouldn't say, "Yeah, we've seen this behavior many times. We're at a loss, how can you help us?"

It would go something like this, "Well, what did you do? He NEVER acts like this at home!" GET REAL--who do they think they're fooling? I didn't just walk into this classroom from off the street. Someone caved into this child's behavior & has every day since, this is why he acts as such. No one set clear boundaries & stuck to them--so he feels that throwing temper tantrums works with all adults, teachers included. As his math teacher, all I can do is watch him flail around like a dying fish on the floor, hoping that at some point he realizes that THIS STRATEGY ISN'T WORKING!!! It won't work for any kid, anytime, in my classroom--or for that matter when/if I'm a parent myself.

Once again, I am no expert. But for goodness sake, PLEASE parents, be honest. If we can't work together & share our advice or experiences honestly, who loses? I have watched too many episodes of Super Nanny to truly believe that the kids are angels at home & demons solely at school! Why not call a spade a spade? Why try to hide the huge elephant in the room? Everyone already sees it!

Well, my rantings are done...this has been the confession of a protractor klepto!