One May-niac month - Erik

Erik is officially a 7th grader.

I never did understand the big hoopla for 6th grade graduations. Here is Erik waiting for his name to be called as he proceeds up to the risers. Doesn't he look great?! He got that new suit for his birthday just a few days prior and has now worn it three times in three days. I think he might just like it.

Like Nate, he also had a teacher who was concerned that he wouldn't get the award he deserved. Mrs. Smith made a point to leave and walk up to the office to make sure his name would be called. I was standing in the hall as they called Erik's name for scoring better than 90% in language arts and science (math scores hadn't come back yet) when his teacher came back and asked if they announced Erik's name for both. I assured her they did. He also got an award for perfect attendance. I've never been a big fan of attendance awards. Next year I'm going to make a point to pull my kids out at least once during the year :) There is just as much learning (if not more) that can go on outside of the classroom as in.

*Just a little side note about the bullying. As Mrs. Young, the principal, was giving her speech she talked about the new initiative they had adopted this year in regards to bullying and that Mrs. ________ did a great job in heading it up. I had a silent chuckle to myself because Mrs. ________ is the mom of the ringleader of these boys who have tormented Erik for some time. Maybe she's not aware of what's going on with her own son and maybe she's tried to do something about it, but it comes down to everyone having their own choices on how they will treat others.

This year Erik turned 12 and wanted a basketball party to celebrate his birthday, so I came up with these invitations very quickly.

HE couldn't have been happier about how they turned out. And a basketball party it was. They stopped long enough to eat some pizza and open presents. With our big floodlight they would have played all night, but by 10pm I was exhausted and knew moms would be wanting their boys home.
When Erik got to class on his birthday, his teacher asked him where he was going for lunch that day. Kiersten had her last year and she remembered me taking Kiersten out for lunch. Erik said he would have gone to Panda Express except he had requested that I make orange chicken and General Tso's chicken for dinner. So his next favorite . . . American Burgers. You just can't go wrong with burgers and shakes.
He also got a backpacking pack so we are all excited to go backpacking . . . SOON! And I'm pretty sure Alex thinks it's his birthday. Next month buddy.

Bullying

My mother-in-law gave us some great advice when our kids were small. We were worried about building confidence in our kids without it going to their heads. She told us to build them up all we can at home because when they get to school, the world will tear them down. We've taken her advice to heart and have tried very diligently to build our kids' confidence in themselves.

Well, I never thought any of my kids would be on the receiving end of bullying at school. But Erik told me the other day how there are several boys in his class who don't like him and will always laugh at him if he misses a question or doesn't win the game they're playing in class. His teacher then makes these boys "sign" the misbehavior book. 

The mother bear in me surfaced and I wanted to go to school and confront them and roar my terrible roars and gnash my terrible teeth. Now that would have been funny to have me, an adult, taking on a couple of 12-year-old boys. But isn't that what a mother bear does, protects her cubs. I guess I just don't understand why they've singled out Erik because he is a good kid who works hard in class and gets his school work done. He's not mean and isn't looking for confrontation. The sad thing is several of these boys lived in our last neighborhood. They were all in the same class in church and participated in scouts together.

Maybe Erik exudes too much confidence and they feel threatened by that. Maybe they don't like that he's a teacher's "pet." And maybe they're just being young adolescent boys who haven't matured. Whatever the reasons, I told Erik to not pay any attention to them. School is almost over and junior high will bring a whole new set of issues that hopefully don't involve these boys. You can't build yourself up by tearing others down.