Conversations From The Passenger Seat

I'm thankful I've been fortunate enough to pick my children up from school all these years!

You can tell a lot about a person's day in the first 15 seconds of them getting in the car. Today, Savannah hopped in the car very frustrated...primarily from the temperature being 115 degrees outside and then the rest of her frustration unfolded while she sat next to me in the front seat of my car. This is actually a regular occurrence with Savannah as she has been willing to communicate and share most everything with me. 

Being a perfectionist can be a detriment some days and Savannah really hates when she makes a mistake... especially when it is out of character. Today during her PE Dance class she placed her back pack inside her locker which normally would be the right thing to do.  However, being early in the year, she hasn't completely memorized her lock combo and when she returned to her locker at the end of class, her mind was blank. She had forgotten the number sequence needed to open her lock, change her clothes and move on to her 8th period class. The information was safely tucked inside her back pack which was securely locked! 

The PE teachers made it very clear at the beginning of the year that they would not tolerate nor babysit any student that could not be responsible for their locks and combinations and this is what Savannah feared most! That she would now be put in the category as one of those irresponsible students that required "baby sitting". She spent the next 10- 15 minuets going back and forth between the boys locker room and the girls locker room trying to get the information needed to open her locker. When asking her teacher, "What can you do to help me", her teachers response was "There is nothing I can do". NOTHING YOU CAN DO???  This response of course did not make sense to Savannah because there is ALWAYS a way to solve any problem and she has been taught we are all capable of figuring it out!  She could not get over why an adult teacher at her middle school was so unwilling and incapable of helping her solve her problem. 

Savannah's problem did get solved and it made for a very eye opening discussion as to how we react to situations that "happen". Throughout our lives these unwanted situations do "happen" and it's how we react to them that set us apart for everyone else.