Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Brownie struggle

So here's a confession only for the 3 or so of you that read this on any sort of basis... I was a BAD elementary school teacher. At least one of you is now thinking, she was a teacher? :) Yes. I taught 6th grade for 1 year when I lived in AZ. And it was hard and I cried a lot. It wasn't that I didn't have fun ideas but I couldn't discipline the classroom. Some of the kids were out of control and that makes it no fun for anyone. My brownie meetings are becoming a lot like that. I have 2 kids that make me crazy. I can't convince them to shut the fuck up. As opposed to the classroom, Brownie meetings are supposed to be more relaxed, more fun. The problem is the balance between fun and making Joanne crazy. I'm too nice. I have a hard time saying 'no' (which given that you'd think I'd be much more slutty). Last year they were a little 'spirited' and it wasn't as big a deal. We were in a classroom not in the echoy breakroom at my office. And we didn't have the new Brownie grandma I have now. Her granddaughter is 6. Last week Brownie grandma yelled at the girls about respect and gave me a talking to about being stricter. I like this little girl. I'm glad we've got a new girl. She copies the older girls and is a little more 'spirited' than she should be. I want her to have fun. Her grandmother marched her back in at the end of the meeting with her crying and forced her to apologize for her behavior. This makes me sad. I don't want her to not want to come to Brownies because it isn't fun. I feel like it is my fault because she sees the other girls and gets all riled up by them. She was so cute before the meeting... she gave me a stick of gum in secret because she didn't want the other girls to konw. Luckily I have 2 weeks off (next week parent/teacher conferences and the following week holiday). We are going to have to get back to basics in December. These are the Girl Scout Laws. These are the rules we adhere to. And if necessary these are the consequences if you choose to not follow them. Yuck.

1 comment:

Peeved Michelle said...

I agree that it's yucky, but you have to lay down the law. I bet sending them out of the room with a parent (or time out) would work well since GS is supposed to be fun and they wouldn't want to miss out on any GS time.