TURNING 12!

My oldest son keeps reminding me that next Tuesday he will be turning 12 years old. My God where does the time go. Which reminds me, I have lots of pictures to get organized for his birthday slide show. I love sitting back looking at pictures from when the kids were born. Jay weighed only 5 pounds when he left the hospital after 10 days. He was 6 weeks premature and so teeny tiny and now he is the same height as me, 5'4". He is looking forward to having his friends over to hang out and I will probably take him to a movie. My parents will be coming for a visit in a couple of weekends and will celebrate his birthday with them and have lots of fun...I think he is still hoping to get guitar hero for his playstation. Before I know it he will be graduating from school. If only I could turn back time! Love you Jay :0)

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING WITH JAY'S PRINCIPAL...

I took Jay to school again this morning to see what the outcome was going to be with the school principal. He was very disappointed with the way the situation was dealt with on Jays end of things and he apologized and was glad that we had appealed the vice principals decision and very glad to hear that Jay ended up playing the basketball game. He said that none of what Jay had to go through yesterday on the discipline side of things should have happened at all. Jay went to class and continued on with his day. I stayed behind and discussed this issue further and tomorrow morning I have to meet with him again to talk with the other kids parents. This could get interesting because I am going to push for better discipline while I am there. Better yet the school principal approached me to join the school advisory council to help come up with new and fresh ideas to help the school. I accepted and am now a member of the advisory council! Yay for me I just hope I am not committing to more than I can handle.
So tomorrow I will have my last meeting (hopefully) over this incident. I think I might be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

UNFAIR SCHOOL DICIPLINE POLICIES....

So just when you think your morning is going pretty good the phone rings and it's the kids school. The thoughts start running through my mind....who's sick?, who's hurt, oh no maybe it's another bullying issue....my heart was pounding as my husband answered the phone then I hear, " is he alright, how did that happen?" Gulp....I am panicing now :0( so here it is my stressful morning with the school:

There is nothing worse than getting a phone call from the kids school only to find out that Jay was given an in school suspension for fighting. After talking to the Vice Principal and with Jay on the phone we realized that we needed to go to the school and look into things. Sure enough Jay didn't start the fight. What happened was that he tripped over a bench and ran into (accidentally) another boy and before he could apologize he was jumped on from another boy out of no where. Jay tried to do everything he could to walk away once he got him off but he kept coming back for more. Jay's teacher is very protective of Jay with the bullying issues and questioned the class on the matter and it happened exactly like Jay said. But because of the school rules anyone involved in a fight is to be punished by the guidelines. How is this fair. Jay not only had in school suspension for the day but he wasn't allowed to participate in the school basketball game after school today. Now isn't that punishment enough. Well guess what the kid that caused all the trouble got? The exact same punishment as Jay. I didn't agree with this and neither did the teachers and the vice principal but he had to follow the guidelines. OMG I was almost crying (again) at this point and to see Jay in tears the whole time was killing me and his teacher. After almost 2 hours of talking to the vice principal with Jay he felt that what Jay was getting for punishment was unfair so we were told we could appeal his decision for discipline until the principal who knows Jays bullying history was back at the school (tomorrow). After confirming that Jay was only defending himself (not hitting just blocking the punches) we appealed and Jay decided to stay at school with his teacher and continue on with the day instead of coming home and he will be able to participate in his basketball game today. I tell you that if it was my kid that started the fight I would have brought him home from school and took him off the school basketball team all together.

The problem with the school is that they don't give concequences to the kids to make them think twice about doing it again. Sure the bullying will stop...but will move on and bully someone else. Now I am stuck in a situation on how I am going to deal with this issue. Jay was punched more than once and other kids witnessed all this so is this the time I prove a point and press charges for assault. Will it really make a difference and get the point across to this kid and maybe his parents? He probably wouldn't get anything for it anyway just another talking to. I feel that he should be removed from the basketball team for the rest of the year and really give him something to think about.

How would you deal with an issue like this. Should there be more punishment for the one who started it or fair punishment like school guidelines want.
GRRRR I can't take this anymore and I pitty the next kid who lays a hand on Jay because I will be taking matters into my own hands.
I am getting ready to head up to the school to pick up the younger kids and stay to watch the basketball game. I am just hoping that the rest of the day was ok for Jay. It was so hard leaving him there this morning but he said he would be ok. Why is he being targeted for bullying. He is new to the school but I mean come on it's already the end of February, I have noticed that one of the kids he is having a problem with is on his basketball team and from what I see he sees Jay as competition. Both boys are really good but the other kid is use to being the best and having everyone looking up to him and now Jay is moving into his spotlight. Will I ever figure this out?
I hope that with him going into Junior High school next year these problems will go away...

***1ST GUITAR LESSON

I can play..."Hot Cross Buns"
(don't laugh I'm just starting)

Now it's Jay's turn to be in the spotlight. He had his very first guitar lesson last night. This went really well and he has an instructor that he really connected with. He was so excited and learned so much in just a half hour session. He had a smile from ear to ear when he came out of class and his face just lit up. At first I wasn't sure how interested he really was in learning to play but I think he has found something he loves (along with basketball) and is a natural at it. I think learning the guitar will come easy for him. I guess he likes to perform like his sister but in a different way! keep up the hard work Jay...it will definitely pay off :0)