"A Failure in Life"

It has been almost a week and I still have not heard back from the parent who was so angry about her son's homework and if she wants me to arrange that meeting with the principal to discuss removing her child from the High Ability classroom.

I am hopeful that that is a good sign - sometimes people say things when they are under duress that they don't mean. (Been there, done that!) But I have been wondering if I should continue on with him and push him to get his work done or if I should let things go because he will be leaving and my assignments won't matter. I am a bit in limbo at the moment.

And, I have been concerned about how he is emotionally. I know that evening was hard on him. Since then, some of his homework has been getting done - is that because things are better at home? Or is it because he is scared he will fail and have to leave, so he is grinding it out as best he can?

I decided that enough time had passed and that I needed to ask, so I pulled him aside privately. I asked how things were going and how he was doing. His answer (again) made my heart ache.

"My mom says I can stay if I try, but if I don't do well, I have to leave. And she says I will be a failure in life if that happens."

Now, I know kids OFTEN get things wrong and misunderstand what the adults in their lives say, be it at home or at school. So I don't know if she really said that or not. But, even if she didn't, that is what he understood from it, and what he is now operating under.

Before I could put together a response, he continued.

"All my family agrees with my mom. Except my one sister. The one who had you, too. She's like me, and she understands. She says I won't be a failure in life."

Thank you, big sister, for encouraging your little brother.

And I hope, hope, hope that he has misunderstood what his family meant.