Truancy Intervention

On Friday a letter from Ava's school showed up in our mail box. A bit excited, I ripped the envelope to shreds. Ava has been (or maybe she's done now) taking tests for the gifted program that begins in third grade. This is new territory, so I'm not sure about the process, but delivering the results via letter makes sense.

Unfortunately, the contents had nothing to do with such test results. No, instead it was notice that if my lovely child is late once more I will be going to court. Nice. I know she's been late. I didn't know that she'd been late five times (and except for the time I locked the keys in the running car that was blocking our other vehicle, she's only been 2-3 minutes late) and that six equals legal intervention.

Now, say what you will about it being our responsibility to get her there on time. I get it. However, I wanted her to learn about natural consequences. When you throw yourself madly about the floor and refuse to dress, walk or talk, you have to sign in at the front desk - and here's the kicker - all by yourself. Who knew the natural consequence would be for me (Wade might participate at some point, but for now it's me) to attend truancy intervention meetings once a month at 7:45 am.

Knowing this was a problem prior to receiving the letter, I'd been racking my brain for ways to get her going in the morning. Seven seems a bit early to develop a coffee habit, so I opted for the one thing that consistently gets her attention. Money. She gets fifty cents for going to bed without throwing a fit the size of Texas and fifty cents for being in the car ready to go at or before 7:30. It's working.

After getting over the initial shock, I'm kind of looking forward to hanging with the other delinquent parents.