I Never Thought We'd Have to Worry that We've Raised the Kids Too Well

Every day Lauren comes home from Kindergarten with tales of one of the boys in her class. He is always in trouble, he never does his work, he gets time outs in Music from the nicest teacher in the school, he can't write his name, etc., etc., etc. Lauren is excellent at telling stories of outrageous behavior in an astonished wide-eyed fashion (typified in the absolute delight and disgust she had in telling me someone had pooped in the pool one summer), so I always kind of enjoy the stories of the bad kid, because I love to watch the expressions on her face as she tells them.

But now they've been in school for seven weeks. Nothing that her teacher has tried has brought more than a temporary improvement in this kid's behavior. Today it occurred to me that the one thing she has tried that has worked is having Lauren sit next to him. I guess she figured that Lauren has so much self-control and focus that she could hold her own against this kid. Plus, Lauren is really sweet and wouldn't be the type to constantly tattle on him or make fun of him. One day she came home and happily told me that she did his work and wrote his name on his paper for him (now she can spell his name but he still can't). Whenever they do "centers" they have to play with the kids from their table, so Lauren always has to play with this kid (well, most of the time he has to sit out during center time with his head down, but anyway).

Is this fair to Lauren? I asked her today if she wished she could sit at another table and take a break from sitting next to this kid every day. She looked at me with such happiness, I felt bad that I hadn't suggested it earlier. I told her that I would talk to her teacher, but she told me that she would ask herself (I warned her that her teacher might say no, and to not immediately go to the nurse if that happened). I told her that if the teacher didn't agree to move her that I would go talk to her.

I feel bad for Lauren's teacher, because obviously this kid should not be in Kindergarten (or maybe needs to be medicated) and yet she has to deal with him plus 20 other kids every day. But I also think it is too much stress on Lauren to have to sit with him all the time just because she can. She deserves a chance to get to know the other kids in her class and to play with other kids who are not raving lunatics. I am all for letting teachers run their own classrooms, but I think if Lauren doesn't get to move at least by the end of this quarter, I'm going to have to storm the school.