We had high hopes for the boy this year. He was entering his second year at the same preschool and we figured that he would blossom in his role as a bigger kid. We hoped that he would be nice to the new kids and help the younger ones figure out how the school works. This was his year to shine.
I don’t know why I was so surprised to have his teacher pull me aside yesterday. 
You never want to get pulled aside by the teacher, as it is never anything like, “your child is amazing and we couldn’t be more pleased about his progress.” It is always bad news, like your parents calling you on the phone and asking, “do you have a few minutes?” So his teacher, Maria, pulled me aside and in 30 seconds ruined the outlook for my son. She fist said that he wasn’t focusing during “work” time. He is in a Montessori school, which means the “play” is called “work” (I guess in an effort to indoctrinate kids into the idea that they will be working for the rest of their lives). He had always been relatively focused at school, so this was a particularly troubling development.
She also said that he was manhandling the other kids during the outside play time. This wasn’t so surprising as he has always been pretty good at hurting other kids. I have definitely noticed any time he gets together with other kids now, he plays superhero and tries to rip their limbs off. I just need to find the right super hero to channel for Malcolm, something like a cross between “Captain Niceguy” and “The Green Mellow Reader.”
After the conversation, I was stunned. I really this thought this was going to be a good time for Malcolm to step up. Sadly, I think he is acting more like the new little kids than becoming a bigger little boy. I don’t know how we, as parents, are going to handle it. We’ll try to make him see the benefits of focusing on the task at hand, and being respectful to the other kids. If he is anything like me, he will tune out his parents and do bad things. Maybe we’ll come up with something. Part of me wants to let the trained professionals (his teachers) take care of it, but the aggravating thing about Montessori school is that the teachers won’t kick the shit out of the kids. Is it too late for Catholic school?
Tags: Malcolm misbehaves
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Long live the "Green Mellow Reader"!