Dear Former Friend.....

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?!?! Because I do! My students make me laugh every single day--sometimes with them and frequently at them. This is one of those "at them" stories.

The other day, one of the boys in my class came to school with a brand new earring. He got his ear pierced the night before. Well, does anyone know many 10-11 year olds that keep their opinions to themselves? There are 4 boys in my class who definitely do not. So, my personal opinions aside, here is what happened:

"Herbert" showed up with his earring. Four boys in my class, "Eenie", "Meenie", "Miney", and "Mo", did NOT approve. They told Herbert they thought he was gay for having an earring in his ear. This caused Herbert to cry, sooooo, I had to have a chat with E, M, M, & M. I said, "Herbert said you called him gay because of his earring."

E replied, "What? Gay just means happy!"

I said, "E, I know that isn't how you meant it!"

E, "Yes, Mrs. Comeau, that's what gay means to me; happy. What's wrong with calling him happy?"

"Come on, E, you really expect me to believe that you told him his earring was happy?"

E, (with a look of total innocence on his face) "Of course! That's what gay means, right?"

Okay, I'm not about to get into this discussion with him, so I told all four boys they needed to write Herbert a letter and apologize for making him feel so bad. These were their letters:

Eenie
Dear Herbert,
I'm sorry I called you gay. All of my brothers have earrings and I think they are totally cool.
Your Friend,
Eenie

Meenie
Dear Herbert,
I am sorry I called you gay and hurt your feelings.
Sincerely,
Meenie

Miney
Dear Herbert,
I'm sorry we said stuff that hurt your feelings. I think getting an earring is really dumb. But, it's up to you, so I guess you can do whatever you want. I would take it out if I were you.
Sincerely,
Miney

Mo
Dear Herbert,
I am sorry we called you names and hurt you. Actually, you started it though, so you should be sorry first.
Sincerely,
Mo

(I did have Mo rewrite his letter. I probably should have had Miney, but I was tired of the whole episode by then!)

This was one of those situations where I couldn't laugh UNTIL they had left my classroom. Then Mary, my student teacher, and I had quite a chuckle. Seriously, I LOVE MY JOB!!! :)

The amazing thing about 5th grade boys? The next day they had all forgotten about it and moved on. If it were girls......this would be an ongoing trauma. We would have to have DAILY meetings where everyone could discuss their feelings and cry and hug. After about 9 days of said meetings, they would have something else upset them and our daily meetings would continue, just focus on a new problem. Plus, there would be many "secret" notes passed in class saying something like:

Dear Former Friend,
I hate you. You are not my friend anymore. I hate, hate, hate you! You are going to be in big trouble because my mom is going to call the principal.
From,
Suzy-Q

After the 9 days of meetings, these two would be BFF's again and they would hate some other poor pre-adolescent girl because of her hair cut, her nail color, her shoes, the brand of markers she uses, etc., etc., etc.

Is anyone else grateful to be a grown-up? Since there is NEVER stupid trauma in our lives!!!! :)