Fighting other people's battles...

(With International Students - the Mini-UN of my youth)

When I was in college I wanted to be a diplomat. I still dream about it. Unfortunately I am afraid I am too old, and my life too child-centered to start this path. But it's still in me somewhere...

Every once in a while someone does something to someone else that I think is wrong. Let's face it, that happens pretty much daily - if I look for injustice, I'm sure I can find it every minute - but every few weeks or so something happens within my little world that upsets me to the point that I want to take action and engage myself in the issue.

Recently I called a relative to inform her that her child had done something inappropriate. It totally backfired.

A few weeks before that I attempted to "fix" something at the martial arts school where my kids take classes. Again, backfired.

Nearly 100% of the time when I try to fix something like this, it backfires.

This week I got myself worked up about how mean one child was to another child on the sidelines after a soccer game. It was a hot topic of discussion for my daughter and several of her teammates. Child A is a known bully. Child B has a crisis at home and because of this, the girls are trying to be very nice to her. Child A was rude to Child B after last week's game and threw a bottle at her, hitting her. All the girls were shocked, but of course none of the coaches saw it. Speaking with a friend about this at today's game, my blood pressure rose to breaking point and I decided that I would speak to Child A's mother. Perhaps Child A doesn't know about Child B's situation?

I really want to call the mother and say to her, "I'm not sure if you know about Child B's situation, but the girls are all trying to be a bit extra nice to her. Maybe you daughter, Child A, could try it too?"

Or "tell your kid to stop being such a bitch to everyone, but especially to Child B" (it's my fantasy, clearly I won't say that!).

In light of the delicate situation, and my near 100% failure statistics, I am not going to call Parent A. But I'm tempted!

Maybe it's not so bad that I never had the balls to take the Foreign Service Exam. Diplomacy might not be my strong suit after all. But someday, I hope I still fit these criteria and can take that exam and have the career of my dreams. When I checked the website a year ago it bluntly warned that you will be sent to an area of conflict (read: Iraq). They've taken that off. They've kept some caveats, but that goes without saying. Right now I don't want to miss a single soccer game, much less a couple of years of my kids' life, so I can't apply.

It also says: Must be less than 59 years old... I've got 20 years left to try!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New decade new post

It's the new decade and I'm already a little unsure about its start. N bonked his head and we ended up in the ER for a STAPLE. It was pretty inhumane - but much faster than stitches. I am directly dreading when it gets pulled out on Saturday! Then this morning the alarm didn't wake us, not because I didn't set it, but because I didn't check the volume level and of course it was silent. Everyone got to school as close to on time as to not call it tardy, but N needs a few minutes in the morning to get his act together if he is going to finish his morning work on time. I am pretty sure his teacher thinks I am a flake of a Mom who can't get her kid to school on time! Flake or not, I spent most of the weekend with N (I brought him to see my Dad, C stayed here for a birthday party and some quality Daddy time). He had a great weekend, despite the ER visit. N loved that I let him run wild where I never thought I would. In a pinch for some kid fun on a cold day? ...
Read more

Why I'm Voting for Barry Walker

Image
A long time ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away... ... I ran for a School Board. It is not a position to take lightly or to vote for "just anyone".  You've seen the signs... Barry Walker is running a tough, but honest campaign. It's not easy when your main opponent is an incumbent with strong political ties and a tendency to play by his own rules. In fact when I ran against him years ago, he used the Middle School directory to solicit votes. As an attorney and a board member - or even as a parent who can read - he should have known that this was verboten , since a "not for solicitation" clause is printed on all school directories. Misuse discourages families from including their information in the future.  As the saying goes, "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission." Maybe I'm jealous? Since I wrote the elementary school's directory and had every single email on my computer, I was tempted to do the same - it would have take...
Read more

What not to say....

My good friend posted on Facebook yesterday that one of her kids' teachers said, " Ok. You all need to stop talking now. I hate this class already." As of now she has 20 comments. Several comments were negative towards tenure (the program where teachers who have worked for 3 years in their position get a "job for life" and it is nearly impossible to fire them). I certainly understand resentment towards tenure. However, I also understand the comments - several left by teachers - saying that this isn't indicative of how the vast majority of teachers feel or teach. Some, like me, begged her to contact the school (I said she should bring it higher, to the Assistant Superintendent). She said her kid didn't want her to. What would have I done? I would have called. Immediately! It isn't in my nature to wait and see. I'm hot headed and I just can't help myself.  Would that have been in the best interest of my child? Probably not. It would be...
Read more