More Kindergarten Misbehavior

Just two days after our kindergartner had a meltdown getting on the school bus, he acted up in school and received a “red lily pad” - this is the worst of three levels on the all-important green/yellow/red “lily pad” behavioral scale. From what my wife has been able to glean of the situation, he pushed another little boy in the bathroom, and he later bent a little girl’s finger back and made her cry. Lovely. The details are a bit fuzzy, as he’s feigning memory loss, but… You know that mean little boy that kids always complain about? Unfortunately, Son #3 was that boy yesterday.

I know that everyone always says this about their own child, but our son really is a very sweet and sensitive kid. From the outset, however, we knew this would be a big and difficult adjustment for him, especially because he’s always been much more of a “sleeper dude” than his brothers. Sons #1 and #2 also went through an adjustment period when they first started kindergarten, but they didn’t act up at school. Rather, they saved it for when they got home. This is especially true of Son #1, who has always been a model student - he seems to save his pent up energy/anxiety/whatever for us when he gets home.

As far as repercussions go, his little outburst means that he’ll be missing the Friday treat. This will actually be a double-whammy for him since he’s scheduled to bring the treat this week - hopefully the lesson will stick. He also instructions to seek out his “victims” and apologize to them, as well as a note to his teacher this morning asking that she be sure he follows through.

As far as the prevention of future problems goes, we’re hoping to get him through the initial kindergarten exhaustion as soon as possible. He actually went to bed at 6PM last night, so hopefully that’s a step in the right direction. All in all, we’re confident that he’ll get through this. The main question is how long it will take before he adjust to his new schedule and starts returning to his happy go lucky old self.

Update: My wife received a phone call from our son’s teacher reassuring her that this was an isolated incident in what has otherwise been a good start to the school year. He has also made amends with those that he wronged, so hopefully it’s onward and upward from here.