Life lesson #3 - Don't annoy girls

I've debated for 3 days whether to include this saga in the blog. Maybe it's chapter 3 material in the book on parenting things nobody tells you?

Sophia came home from school on Wednesday with a "time out" letter. She did the death march down the sidewalk to my awaiting car. Tears filled her eyes, snot spewing, she was contrite (or not). Isabella and Ava rushed ahead to beat her to the car to inform me that Sophia got another letter! She had just gotten a letter 2 weeks ago for talking too much in class.

We carpool another child and I really didn't want to air our dirty laundry in front of our "guest". So, I asked Sophia to stop crying and pass the letter up. I expected the letter to say that she was once again talking out of turn in class (this is a recurring theme in the Ubaydi house, and it's hereditary I believe...I used to get these letters ALL the time as a kid). I looked down at the letter as I was driving away and I was shocked to see "I kicked Christophur".

WHAT?! Physical violence. Really, what would lead you to kick another child? I set the letter down and said "we'll discuss this later >:-/

Unfortunately, I had a Girl Scout meeting for the other 2 girls that afternoon and a sitter was at the house waiting for me. So, I told Sophia she was grounded until got home. She could do her homework and read upstairs but could not watch TV. 20 minutes later I received an email from the teacher on my Blackberry.

Essentially, Sophia and the rest of the class were in the library. A boy standing in front of Sophia was speaking to her in an annoying voice. She asked him to stop a few times and he didn't (because 7 year old boys are annoying) and so when he didn't stop she kicked him in the shin.

Now, I don't condone physical violence and in no way do I think that it was appropriate. But...dang that is FUNNY!

Instantly, I thought of my list of people who I'd regularly like to kick in the shin. Sadly, Sophia got in trouble for not being able to control her impulses. We punished her as any parent should but we did it knowing it's kid stuff and not indicitive of any underlying behavioral problems.

But, I'm willing to bet that in 20 years this boy will be on some social networking site and be recanting the story of this girl, Sophia in his Second Grade class, who taught him a valuable lesson at such a tender age. He will forever be grateful that Sophia taught him lesson #3 in life...Do not annoy girls.