Keeping Mothers in the picture.

It's Friday. I'm home. Finally. 
It's been a tough day.
I caught a kid stealing from my desk - a kid I had taken to heart, who said he was hungry and I gave him a snack from my desk drawer. And when he ask me again one evening after class, I gave him another. And then another. But Wednesday, in home room after I had been in the hall watching kids, I caught him sitting in my chair at the desk. I thought he was just "trying out the chair" and told him not to be there; that there were things on the desk that were none of his business. But, I never thought he had been in the drawer looking for treats to steal and eat. [Hindsight says he took candy then; I just missed it.]
Today I came back into the room at lunch while the kids were decorating for spirit week (what chaos) and there he was. ..sitting in my chair, bending over the drawer where my purse and the snacks were.
He held his hands behind his back while I berated him for sitting behind my desk again. Then I saw the stance - hands behind the back, never relaxing.
I told him to show me what he had in his hands.
In the left hand - a paper cone of some kind. 
In his right hand - a mini candy bar with a label - "for a hard working teacher"- (from the local teacher sorority, who had put it in my mailbox that morning before I got the mail on my way to the room).
I took him to the counselor; but she and I talked out of his earshot.  She said:"His parents both have jobs. His mother is probably putting him on a diet because he's put on the pounds since 6th grade."  Later she said his lunch had plenty of calories to fuel a kid for the afternoon.
So, now I have to lock my desk every time I am away from it. And lock my door when I am not in the room. And I knew that, but I just didn't want to.

Sneaky!! 

Trust but Verify. 

Man is no damn good. 

Youth brains don't mature until about age 28, no matter what you would like to think.

BTW, this post was supposed to be about getting in the picture with your kids. Maybe that's a possible money maker for some school photographer - Mom and the kid every year in school pics. and the kid alone. And the Mom alone... we could make a fortune ;-)

 

 And another "I've been there" moment: 
          The "new" reading teacher took her flock to the computer lab to write and print. Someone sent 2,000 copies to the printer. She was rightfully upset and taken off guard. 
          Kids were afraid they would all get zero's because she forbade them to print - no one saved and they all lost their work. She pulled the plug on the printer. She vowed they will never come back to the lab!!! 
She will learn "it's all small stuff." It happened to me; hah, the memories... and I learned how to fix it without getting a coronary or giving one. Age and experience do have some value, right?! But, some things I have yet to learn...