Come play in my world for awhile!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sometimes I just walk away

Not too long ago we were on summer break and I was encouraging my girls to write about their favorite thing they'd done while away from school. I was trying to be sneaky and get the kids to write over the break without actually calling it writing. They immediately recognized it for the ploy that it was and began focusing their efforts on getting around the task rather than just getting it done.

Abby was in particularly fine form and thwarted my efforts by writing:

I love summer!! I love the hole in tire thing!
Two sentences? Wow.

I decided to go with the positive and see if I could coax more out of her. We began talking about what she wrote and I explained to her that the correct word choice was entire -- the whole entire thing. But Abby insisted I was wrong. She told me her teacher taught them about those phrases, and I'm not supposed to take everything I read so litterly (her word - I didn't even try to correct it). We went around and around... but Abby wasn't budging. And no amount of logic or reasoning could change her mind. After 11 years of Swiss cheese logic and irrational conversations you'd think I'd be used to this. But I'm not.

Eventually, I threw in the towel (see Abby? I get it. I didn't actually throw any towels) and admitted she was brilliant and my meager brain was no match for her clear mental superiority and told her to ask her second grade teacher when school started.

* * *

Monday afternoon Abby brought her weekly folder home from school and it was filled with the product of last week's school efforts. And there it was again. The hole in tire thing. Complete with teacher correction.

I mentioned this to Abby and was mildly surprised when she let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head in disappointment and gazed reflectively at her feet. She said, "I know, Mom. I was so surprised. She got it wrong just like you.... If she's not careful she might really confuse us kids... It's a good thing I've got it straight."

Um, yeah. Good thing.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when she explains this one to her teacher.

I expect I'll hear about it shortly.

58 comments:

The Rambler said...

LOVED this one!

The hole in tire thing!!!

Teachers...they better watch it or they'll get replaced :)

I have to share this one with my cousin who's a 2nd grade teacher!

xoxo

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

I'd like to hear it too. What is that teacher's explanation for letting that in tire thing go?!

Kimberly said...

Oh goodness!! You have one of those kids too! LOL! I can't wait, and am actually looking forward to these kinds of conversations with my youngest.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Abby, you are too precious!! I didn't realize that Gabe thought Matthew was his "bruller" until he started writing in Kindergarten...it took me a while to convince him it was a brother not a "bruller". God love them and their little words!!

Lindy said...

Okay - so is it bad that the first thing I thought of was that she liked the hole in the tire swing?

It look me until I read the first comment to realize what she was getting at.

I think maybe I should just go ahead and shut my blog down.

Anonymous said...

My little brother was like this in elementary school. He made his r's backwards and flat out told his teacher that she should deal because that was how he did it. Let's just say that went over well at the parent teacher conference.

I can't wait for my son to do this. haha.

Anonymous said...

That's so funny! When I was in kindergarten a 6th grader told me that those little plastic frogs you can buy in museum gift shops were real and I believed her even though my mom and teacher told me it wasn't true. Me and my sister both thought dress was spelled with a 'G' for the longest time.

countryfriedmama said...

Teachers are in tirely too rigid about this sort of thing.

MadMad said...

OMG! That is awesome! Too, too funny. So. How do you think the lecture on how "whole" and "entire" are not actually BOTH necessary is going to go down...?

TheKitchenWitch said...

I'm actually surprised her second grade teacher corrected her. Most of Miss D.'s phonetical spelling mistakes go uncorrected.

I LOVE that she is so convinced that SHE is right and you guys are wrong.

Now I'm anticipating Miss D.'s essay next week (when she starts 2nd grade): I thought the hole in tire thing was borring.

The Good Cook said...

The quality of our teachers is shocking. Imagine. Abby's whole in tire school career with these incompetents.

Danielle said...

Great story. I love your kids.

Danielle said...

Great story. I love your kids.

Unknown said...

hahahahaha! I know, I remember this kind of thing. And how I couldnt convince my son he was not quite correct.

Riddle Girl said...

You do realize she will make a great lawyer when she is older. Her reasoning skills are superb.

Grant said...

Good for her! I hope she never gives in and starts doing things wrong like you stupid old adults.

Gibby said...

KB!, didn't you know that mommys know in tirely NOTHING? Sheesh.

KatBouska said...

It would have been funny if the teacher had missed that correction.

I love kid logic. And in tire DOES make a lot of sense.

Stephanie Faris said...

Adorable! I just kept imagining that she'd swung on a tire at some point and was saying that she loved that there was a hole in it so she could sit?

Yeah, I tend to overthink things that way sometimes!

Grand Pooba said...

No way!!! Your girl is hillarious Kathy B!!! And she seriously is a genius!

Grumpy, M.D. said...

To her it makes sense.

My daughter has a similar way of thinking.

Kristina P. said...

I love your daughter. I hope I have one just like her.

Anonymous said...

I can't even imagine being a teacher. Teaching one little man is sometimes more than I can handle, I can't imagine trying to teach 28 at the same time.

Very funny.

Jane! said...

Are you sure she's female? That sounds an awful lot like the men in my life.

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Welcome to my life as a teacher!!

for a different kind of girl said...

Love this! Thank goodness for teachers! My oldest son would quite likely side with your daughter on this in tire thing. I even had to buy a phonetic dictionary to understand his in tire writing folder last year!

Anonymous said...

She's head-strong. I'll give her that.
Good luck!

Claudya Martinez said...

That's hilarious!

I have to shamefully admit to you that when I read "the hole in tire thing" I thought it was some kind of a tire tree swing that I didn't know about. My bad.

Sultan said...

I am rooting for her!

Cynthia said...

See now I thought she meant the hole tire swing...perhaps I need more schoolin';)

Susie said...

So cute! They have their work cut out for them:-)

Anonymous said...

Hahahahaha!

Liz Mays said...

I love when kids do that! It cracks me up!!!

Stacy Uncorked said...

Oh I LOVE it!! That's the sort of 'correcting' Princess Nagger does to me, too - I would SO love to be a fly on the wall when her first grade teacher gets to experience her literal self! ;)

And I have used the phrase 'throw in the towel' to PN - she told me I didn't have any towels to throw...so she got me one so I could. ;)

peewee said...

what? is that NOT how you spell it?

forever folding laundry said...

She's a girl that stands by her convictions. I like that! :)

~Keri

Nancy@ifevolutionworks.com said...

PRICELESS! I'll admit, I had to read the "hole in tire" thing twice.

It's late, I get stupid when I'm tire-d

Anonymous said...

haha it actually took me a second to get that :P

Anonymous said...

I still don't get it? The hole in tire?

Kathy B! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kathy B! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AiringMyLaundry said...

Haha too funny!

Kids crack me up. I mean, they tend to give me headaches but for the most part they are amusing creatures, aren't they?

theUngourmet said...

Kids! They hit the tween years and suddenly they know everything! Were we like this???

ScoMan said...

Kids know it all don't they?

A girl I work with had one of her little ones come home and was so proud she had got a question in maths right. She had this conversation.

"What was the question?"
"20 minus 7"
"And what's the answer"
"16"
"... I don't think that was the question"
"It was"
"But 20 minus 7 isn't 16"
"It is, my teacher said so"
"I think you might have answered a different question darl, because it's not"
"MUM! (Remembering mum is an accountant) LOOK! 20 (counting each minus on fingers)... 19... 18... 17... 16. Oh, maybe it was a different question then"

passions and soapboxes said...

They are right and that is that. They will never admit to being wrong not even when they are grown. They know they are but contrary wise won't give in. I have 2 like this. Good luck

LadyFi said...

Now that's a real classic line. Love it!

JennyMac said...

Oh...I love it.

Pseudo said...

This was adorable. When my kids were young I used to walk them to the park and let them climb a tree. Then i'd hand them a composition book and hope they would fill it up. I got a couple sentences and then off they would go to swing from the branches...

JoeinVegas said...

Nice that she knows so much.

ck said...

that's really funny. it also made me thank God I'm not a teacher. i wouldn't be able to contain my laughter.

Cheffie-Mom said...

I loved this hole in tire post! LOL!

The Blonde Duck said...

That is HILARIOUS!

Pam said...

With confidence and a sense of self like this, your daughter is going to go far!

Mary K Brennan said...

I can't wait for the sequel. Got to love her stubborness.

Patricia said...

OMG Abby sounds so much like E, my oldest. They're always right...

Anonymous said...

So sorry that you and the teacher are so clearly wrong.

(this drives me nuts about kids. i actually told off a child at the playground who told me I was wrong. I told her I was seven times older than her and she could argue with her mother but not with me. Now I regret greenlighting the debate thing.)

I guess it's nice that your daughter believes in herself in the face of naysayers. I guess it's nice she's willing to stick up for herself. If I wasn't a grammar freak I'd probably start using "in tire" whenever possible in solidarity. But I can't. It's so painfully wrong. Print out this post and keep her writing and show her when she's an attorney. She'll laugh and apologize. I hope.

Hit 40 said...

I glanced through the comments real quick...

I didn't notice if you suggested blogging to your girls for fun. Captain Dumbass's boy started a blog. I have pondered having Adam start one to keep him busy.

Ink said...

LOL!