Morning Lord. I’m hiding in the bathroom so I can spend some time with you since Linley looks as though she entrenched here today and keeps wanting to chat. Yesterday’s meeting with the employment consultant was not the happy event she had pictured. He painted such a bleak picture of the economy and the unemployment situation that she’s now thoroughly depressed – and I appear to be the Prozac.
I was hoping for a little quiet time today to be able to process the things Miss Hollis told me at the meeting yesterday. Thankfully the children behaved themselves while we met, and thankfully the news was not as dire as I pictured. Emily is still doing well academically and is not about to be expelled. However, Miss Hollis is concerned that Emily is being unnecessarily distracted by friendship issues, particularly in relation to Madison.
According to Miss Hollis (Educational Goddess), Emily is being teased about her friendship with Madison, and how, since Madison comes to our house every day after school they must be lesbians and in love (crickey!) and how our house must stink because Madison stinks etc. etc. Miss Hollis said that Emily is starting to be deliberately mean to Madison by making disparaging comments, say if Madison makes a mistake in class, and although Miss Hollis understands that it is a very difficult situation, and that Emily is just trying to fit in with Brittany and some of the other so-called cool girls, she would appreciate my intervention in the situation…blah, blah.
Of course I wasn’t completely oblivious to the fact that there were problems (the zoo trip showed me that if nothing else) but the two girls seem to be getting on reasonably well at home. This makes me wonder what is worse – the fact that Emily is, with malice aforethought, being mean to a long time friend, or the fact that she can be two totally different people – one at home and one at school. If she’s able to dissemble like that already, think what she might be like by teenage years. It makes Libby’s teaching yesterday about ways of channelling our children’s strengths and weaknesses so much more pertinent I think.
Anyway, as I always, I pray for the wisdom to know how to handle this. I had better go before Linley starts asking pointed questions about my bathroom habits.
In Jesus’ name…Amen