Tales of a Third Grade Extra

Marley has been cast as Mrs. Gloop, the mother of Augustus Gloop, in her class production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She had her heart set on the role of Veruca Salt but seemed to accept yesterday her given role.

That was yesterday.

Today, after the play meeting, she dissolved into hysterical tears. She doesn't want to wear a padded costume (the Gloops are a hefty family), she doesn't want to take German language classes (I tried to explain she just had to say her lines with an accent), she was upset that she NEVER gets an important part, and the ultimate insult? She doesn't think she is going to be one of the children chosen to wear a mic.  (She might get mic'd but without knowing for sure I wasn't going to get her hopes up.)

Seriously. What's a mom to do? The third graders get the "bigger" parts. The kinders are going to be candy, the first graders and a few second graders are the Oompa Loompas and all the other roles are divided among the rest of the second and third graders. Marley is not the best actress or singer of the bunch. She got an appropriate role. She got a role with more lines than the previous year. But she is devastated.

This is no my strong suit as a parent. On one hand, I understand why she is upset. Getting to wear the mics is something all the children covet. She's not stupid; she knows that Mrs. Gloop is not a key role. She wants to be a star. On the other hand, every person can't be the star. There are other kids who are more talented--or at least louder. She is a part of a community and this is not the first time she is going to be disappointed with her part, whether it be on stage or in life. Do I tough love it or just lend a sympathetic ear.  Do I do some combination of both?

I probably spent 10 minutes just watching her cry and feeling a combination of helpless and frustrated. Finally, I pulled out the big guns: bribery. I know, I know, it is the evil parenting technique designed to spoil your children and give them a sense of entitlement that will hinder their every relationship. BUT (watch me defend myself here)...

This is not a common practice of ours.
This is not an everyday experience of hers.
I didn't know what else to do.

I told her that I understood why she was upset, but that the director gives out the roles and there is nothing we can do about it. I said we could talk to her teachers so they at least knew she was sad; however, her teachers would not change her role. I told her that if she cooperated with her part, practiced saying her part in a German accent, cooperated with the padded costume, and exhibited a good attitude, we would buy her a new Nintendo DS game. She sobbed and sniffed a little more, but it wasn't too long before she started quizzing me. Could it be a new game and not a used game? Could it be any game she wanted? Could we go get it today after we ran her lines?

Great. Another dilemma. Another parental cave in. After telling her that the point of a reward is to get it at the end so that her cooperation was insured, I decided that I couldn't take looking at her tear-streaked face. I am such a sucker. (Paul will agree with me.) We compromised and she knows that if, at any point, she doesn't cooperate, she will have the game taken away. (And I know I will follow through with that--no problem.)

As I type this, she is sitting on the living room floor trying to figure out how to buy another puppy on Nintendogs: Lab and Friends. In a few minutes, we'll run through her lines again. She needs to practice saying "I vant" instead of "I want." Wish us luck!

Hannah Montana and Math Learning Theory

One area of Marley's academic education that Paul and I are supposed to be working on is her basic math facts.  Oh, she can add all right, but sometimes she runs out of fingers and toes.  It is best if a child can have those math facts readily available.  We have played Go Fish math in which you play Go Fish by adding up cards instead of finding pairs.  I will also quiz her from time to time on the fly.  "Marley, what is 8 plus 7?"

Of course, if you know me and Paul, you know that we have been less than diligent about this math work.  We are a haphazard outfit here at the So Cal Cinema.  Last week I was discussing Marley's resistance to what little work we do with her and one of her teacher's recommended making the math relevant to her interests.  She had Marley pegged as being social and interested in persons such as Hannah Montana, etc.

So, in the car the other day, I decided to test this theory.  I asked Marley to add two numbers.  She did it but begrudgingly.  She said it gave her a headache.  I asked her in a different way.  I said, "If Hannah Montana had 9 wigs and someone gave her 4 more, how many wigs would she have?"  Miss Hannah Montana fan answered right away...  "13 wigs!!"   I said, "See how easy that was?"  She responded in that way that only a child can:  "Of course!  Because it is someone I like!!!!!"  (Duh, mom! was the implication.)

I guess Marley's teacher knows what she is talking about!

School has begun... Dum, Dum, DUM!!!!

I think today, August 28, 2008, was one of the smoothest first days of school we've experienced here in the So Cal Cinema household.

Every supply was purchased.

Breakfast was eaten.

Clothes were clean.

Children were distributed to their respective schools in a timely manner.

Woo Hoo!

Marley enjoyed her first day but came this close to a mini-meltdown afterwards. She wanted to go to 7-11 OR SHE WAS GOING TO DIE AND SHE NEVER GETS TO GO TO 7-11 EVER, EVER!!! She moved on to wanting a play date with Caroline because SHE HASN'T GOT TO SEE CAROLINE ALL SUMMER AND SHE NEVER GETS TO PLAY WITH HER!!!!!

(I quickly informed her that just because she was overdone because of school didn't mean she had to take it out on me. The major irony here is that I am ALWAYS taking out everything on my family and making sure they know that they have to take it because of all my "Woe is me!" happenings.)

I guess they discussed leadership in her class today and Marley told me that she used Shawn Johnson (Olympic medalist and all around cutie) as an example. I think that works for me.

Colin, of course, was not looking forward to school. Fortunately, he isn't one of those kids who won't get up in the morning, etc. In spite of loathing school, he gets up on time, gets himself ready, etc. Easy for me... especially since getting myself up in the morning is not my strong suit.

Let's see. What else?

OH! Paul has joined me in the ranks of multiview progressive lense wearing. It takes a while to adjust to them. You feel a little wobbly sometimes when you are walking and you have to get used to moving your eyeballs around looking for the right place in the lenses to see what you're lookin' at. He has better overall vision than I do, though.

Hmm... I started my classes. Because of the Labor Day weekend, I'll still be able to ease in. I'll be doing lots of reading assessments and tutoring with a student this semester. The hands on bit is always a little hard for me because I have little experience teaching; however, the professor seems very relaxed and kind and I think she'll help me out if I need it.

Well, that's the news from the So Cal Cinema for now. I'm going to be adding a subscribe feature in the sidebar, so if you want posts to come directly to you as I write them, then sign up. I'm the only one who will see the email addresses and I promise I won't be selling them!!!! ;)

TTFN!