Friday, January 16, 2009

New Kid in Town

I'm blogging my lunch break away in the staff office and I had to start over. I hear the kid I just spent 2 hrs with screaming from 2 halls away. WOO HOO! Safe! 11AM can be crazy hour so I'm beginning to like my early lunch time.

This week we got a new student, well, another new student. Complete contrast to the last kiddo to arrive (9 years old but looks 5, FAS eyes, adorable coo, bright mop of red hair, VICIOUS tantrums). This kid is 10 and looks like Agustus Gloop. More on his cartoony appearance later. He doesn't tantrum so much as get fed up, bored, or possibly attention-hungry. His personal mantra to be repeated often should have alerted me. "No digging (in other people's skin) no scratching, no biting, no hitting, no pulling..." He nailed every kid and staff except for a rather burly offspring of a linebacker and an Amazon. We have to block kids when they wander too closely.
I feel bad isolating him from the other kids at a separate table or with several seats in between. They did that enough at his last school. Kept the kid isolated by partitions in the back of the room so he wouldn't have a chance to go after the kids in wheelchairs and walkers that made up his class. But I've learned enough to know you can have an opinion but unless you are in the thick of it, never judge methods schools and teachers use to keep these little..or not so little guys safe. You just don't have a clue unless you're there enough.

He is easily the most advanced in the class, but I can't seem to see past the next aggression. My problem. The 2 kids I work with that have the most dangerous tantrums are giving me some personal issues. Rather than want to stay away from them, I can't wait to jump in and am kinda dissapointed when they don't have problems. How sick is that? They're working nicely and I'm thinking, "come on, buddy.show me whatcha got! anytime you wanna go!" I'm itching to practice my meltdown skills with them and it drives me nuts when they don't seem to need them when I'm around. Freakin N* can't seem to look at the little one without him starting to scream.. I get nothing unless I really challenge them with demands, and so far it's been weak. So I'm left feeling sooo guilty that I am raring to demonstrate that I can help these guys out and know what to do. I want them happy, but I secretly love being the one that helps them when they're not. I would love comforting comments!

2 comments:

Megella said...

You have a rough job and I could never do what you do all day. Seriously.

You deserve some candy cane Joe-Joes.

CaitRenee said...

It's not so tough. And it's fun in odd ways. Still...i want some candy cane Joe-Joes!..what are joe-joes?