Trouble.

When Jordan was in the first grade, he got his name on the board for the first time. His "table" had been talking, so all four children were punished, even though Jordan insisted that he hadn't been talking when he wasn't supposed to. Seeing his name on a list of trouble makers on the board was more than Jordan's fragile little psyche could handle. His response was so emotional, his teacher was unable to console him and ended up taking him to the office where she called home, and asked if I could come in and help.

He ended up coming home for the day, so upset he was that he'd gotten in trouble with his teacher. Jordan is nearly half way through the third grade and has not had his name on the board, or been in any other kind of trouble since.

And then... there is Sam.

Heh.

Really, I couldn't have two boys that are more different. Don't get me wrong... I love that Sam is different than Jordan. They are both exceptional boys. I wouldn't change a single thing about either of them. But oh, how they test my parenting skills in different ways!

Sam, for example, is not a stranger to having his name on the board. It's not something I'm generally concerned about. I got in trouble all the time when I was in school because I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to shut my mouth and stop talking. I don't expect my kids to be perfect (not even Jordan, though he seems determined to be so anyway). What's so funny about Sam is how little he seems to care. At my first parent teacher conference, Sam's teacher said that Sam was a great kid, and that when he was called down for things, he understood why and generally made an effort at improvement. She asked if Sam had told me he'd had his name on the board a few times. Um, yeah. I'm pretty sure that little bit of information would be on the very top of Sam's "things to forget to tell Mommy" list. But really. Name on the board a few times? No big deal.

What do you do though, when the teacher sends home a note that says, "Please talk to Sam about not correcting the teacher, or other adults."

Oh dear.

Now, I know Sam's a little bit of a know it all. I live with the kid. And mostly, because he's so stinkin' charming, he's always gotten away with it. But dude. You can't correct your teacher when your 6.

I wish I knew more specifics about what the particular instances of correction are. I mean, this IS the south, and even teachers aren't immune to using a grammatical phrase now and again that I might itch to correct. But Sam's teacher? She's not one of those teachers. She's awesome enough that even if I could, I wouldn't change a single thing about her. I'm guessing it's more along the lines of "No, we already DID those flashcards, and don't need to do them again," kinds of corrections.

When I talked to Sam about it, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Mommy, you told me once I didn't have to be perfect all the time. And I'm not. It's just natural."

Yeah. Natural.

Oh, how this boy makes me laugh.