The Girl Broke the Mold

A couple of months ago, I posted about the crazy things happening on my daughter's middle school bus in the mornings. Many of you asked for updates of what happened after my talk with the transportation department, and months later, I finally have one... sort of.

As far as the shenanigans on the bus, they've continued, and multiplied. Two girls got caught smoking on the bus (really? If you want to be a sneaky juvenile who smokes, you do it on the way to the bus stop in the morning, not on the damn bus...), and while there appears to be no more porn-watching, the kids on the bus find other ways to be asshats.

Oh, and the transportation department never followed up with me on that subject, by the way. They put a new monitor on the bus for all of 2 days, and that was it.

So where's the part of the update that requires an entire blog post?

Pic Courtesy

My daughter, The Girl, and what happened to her with this whole bus situation.

Hubby's phone rang last week- a call from the transportation department. He figured it was a follow up to my call months ago, and they just pulled his number off of our file, so he returned the call, as I was out grocery shopping.

It was the head of the transportation department, telling Hubby that a write up had been done by the bus driver on The Girl- a write up that they had never seen before, and he had to personally call the parents and deliver the news.

Hubby started to hit the roof. He said he couldn't figure out what in the hell The Girl had done to have the head of transportation personally call us. He said his heart rate sped up and his blood started to boil. (The Girl was grocery shopping with me.)

The transportation guy read the write up to Hubby:

"She always follows the rules and cooperates with the driver since the first day of this school year. I hope that more and more students on the bus will learn from her and make the students' transportation more efficient and much safer."

As Hubby sat speechless, the transportation guy went on to say that good write-ups on kids are extremely rare, so when one comes through, he makes a point to personally call the parents and inform them of their
child's positive behavior, and thank them for whatever it is they are doing right.

When The Girl and I walked through the door a few minutes after Hubby's phone call, he sat us down and told us what had happened.

Of course, I immediately burst into tears- good tears, tears of a proud mama.

The Girl turned bright red in the face and just awkwardly smiled.

The next day, I picked The Girl up from school and she had some papers with her. She started telling me the story of how, during morning announcements, they read out her write-up to the entire school, then stated that they hoped each student could behave in a manner that received positive feedback from people. They announced her name, and told her to come to the office to receive some thank you gifts.

The Girl said she was barely paying attention to the morning announcements until she noticed everyone in her class was staring at her and clapping. Then her brain registered what she had heard. I had to laugh at that; that's my kid.

She journeyed to the office and came back with a Certificate of Recognition from the school, a $5 gift card to McDonald's and a pass for a free round of golf at Golf n'Stuff.

Pic Courtesy

I am proud of my children every day. I have been super proud of my children when they go above and beyond what's expected of them. That day, I know that's the most proud I have ever been of The Girl. I'm sure she'll wow her father and I a million more times in her life, but just knowing that she didn't follow the pack, did what was right, and got recognized for it- huge proud mama moment right there.

While I am in awe of my daughter right now, part of it does sadden me some that positive behavior is so rare nowadays that these huge lengths were taken when it occurred- the transportation head called Hubby, the school announced it to everyone, and gifts were given as a thank you.

I am truly thankful to be the mother of the kid who broke the mold of "normal" behavior for middle schoolers around here. I am also thankful to know that my kid acted like this because that's who she is- not because of any possible rewards that could have occurred.

And yes, I'm feeling like a stellar mom at the moment. I can't take all of the credit for my daughter's positive behavior, but I feel like Hubby and I get part of it. This parenting thing is hard, so when your kids do well, you take that as a sign that you're doing well as a parent, too.

We all need days like this. They counter against the days where your kid comes home with a bad grade on a test, or tells you they have an entire project due the next day that they somehow forgot about. When those days occur, you need something to hold onto dear life to help you remember that you are a good parent, doing your best.

This will keep me going for a while, and I couldn't be happier.


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