Thursday, October 29, 2009

But You WILL Like My Jacket!

This morning Claire had her Halloween party at preschool, so I supplied Halloween games (not the easiest things to find) and took the twins to the Halloween costume parade this morning. The photos are grainy and horrible, but here's a look at her costume this year - no princess gear for us this time! I love the choice: a doctor. Yes, I provided some slight encouragement for this costume choice, but Claire made the final decision. I can only dream that she might wear a real doctor's white coat some day. Too bad there was a little boy in her class who chose the same costume!


The twins love going to the preschool and running in the "gym" (which is the church's sanctuary area), so I took some photos of them enjoying the fun along with BFF Lauren's little brother Pete. Molly called Pete "Beep", and Lily called him "Pee Pee". Ha ha ha. And yes, if you'll look closely, Kyle somehow put Molly's shoes on backwards. Men. I fixed her shoes after I took these photos.



The disturbing part of today was learning from the teacher that yesterday and today Claire kicked some classmates out of frustration. What?! Kicked?! I am furious with Claire, and am trying to understand what happened. The story I got from Claire was that Nolan didn't like her jacket so she kicked him. I told her that a "well, I like my jacket" was a much better response than kicking. But upon recent probing, I've determined that her story is just that - it's not the real reason she resorted to kicking, but she can't seem to remember the real reason. I may contact the teacher again to understand what spurred the kicking sessions just so I can offer Claire a smarter alternative than physical aggression.

But I'm shocked at her behavior. Shocked, appalled, and disgusted. I've never gotten feedback like this before, so it has me reeling a little. Why would she have resorted to kicking? Why so aggressive? What can I do to teach her better ways of handling her anger? I don't ever remember hearing stories about me beating up on other kids in school but I should ask my parents if my memory is correct. And I usually steer clear of gender stereotypes, but it does seem the boys are generally the ones coming home with these reports - not the girls! Sheesh. We have some thinking to do around this house.

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