MAGNET

by teresa
I had an interesting day at Ben's school. More cutting out (I finished a hippo today....yes, I'm only on H) and I also got drawn into an hour long therapy session with a distraught mother. I was just coming down from the computer lab, when I walked into a heated discussion between one of the kindergarden teachers and a parent. They were standing beside the security desk....so I had no choice but to listen. Apparently, the mom was upset about the amount of homework her child has each night. She said....she has shown it to a college professor and it is a higher level of work than his students are on. Okay? She says she doesn't understand it, and it usually takes them 3 hours to complete it at home. The teacher is explaning that it should only take about 20 minutes or so. The mom is mad because some of it ....she has to write out for her child. The teacher is being very nice...but the mom was cursing and wanting to talk to the principal(who was out of school at a meeting). After a minute, the teacher excused herself to go back to the students.....and I was left alone with her. I felt as though someone had tossed a grenade in my lap and I had to try to put the pin back in before it BLEW! Wow...this poor lady has some problems. I know this of course because we spent the next hour discussing them. She is a single parent.....works 60+ hours a week.....works nights(till midnight weekdays, 2am on weekends).....has a 6yr old and a 12 week old......lives with her dad(70yrs old)......her 6yr old has ADD/ADHD and some disorder where she won't sleep(she takes lots of medicine)......the mom has dyslexia(she can hardly read or write.....hello people....this is why it takes so long to do her homework). She was cursing(I told her to please never curse infront of her children....she said she would try) and crying...ranting and raving....and I just let her....listened.....cared.....tried to work out some solutions. You see...she wasn't really mad at the teacher about the homework...she is just OVERWHELMED WITH LIFE! I told her to talk to the guidance councelor about helping her daughter with her homework at school. And to tell the teacher about her learning disabilites. They would all understand and help. I also told her if she spoke as calmly as she was to me, when she met with the teacher and principal...things would get worked out without so much drama. She can't be more that 22yrs old, She hugged me when she left and I told her I would see her next week and I wanted to hear how everything was going. After she left...the teacher and office staff finally came out(cowards). They were very appreciative of me handling the situation. They said it looked very dramatic out in the hallway. Her pacing back and forth....yelling...crying...holding her little baby. They said it looked like I was talking someone down from a ledge.