It's official. We can now say that each of our children has had a visit to the principal's office at some point during their public school education. UGHH! Dan was our latest casualty. He got into a little tiff with a couple of kids who wouldn't let him climb up the ladder after they did. Not such a big deal in the scheme of things, but it really takes the wind out of your sails to get "that call" from the principal,..... "Mrs. Hepworth, I have your son Dan here in my office...."
On the upside, I guess Dan can hold his own. Brad had several visits to the principal's office as a little elementary school boy, defending weaker (or rather, more fearful) kids from bullies (Brad wasn't exactly a towering giant--- he just thought he was). And, yet, despite this, he somehow grew up to be a respectable adult.
Brad's older brother, Mike, probably spent at least 3 days a week at the principal's office after fighting or pulling various pranks or shenanigans. At one point, Brad's mom, Dee, told the story (and Mike confirmed), of Mike climbing the school flag pole all the way to the top (quite a feat in and of itself) so none of the teachers or administrators could make him come in from recess. He remained up there for about an hour until they finally called Dee to come and get him to come down! I can't imagine one of my kids doing that, or even being capable of doing that. On another occasion, the yard duty tried to chase Mike down to make him come in from recess until she had finally had enough and called for back up. Again, Dee had to come down to the school (as she did every week) and threaten his life to get him to come in to class. It was all just good fun for Mike, but Dee had her hand's full. And things were different in the 1950's, when Mike was in grade school. In today's public school world, Mike would be expelled from school and an entire team of psychologists would be called in to try to figure out why Mike doesn't want to come in from recess. Ironically, Mike grew up to be a respectable adult and a Junior High School principal, to boot!
Brad's dad, Chuck, wasn't in trouble in school as a kid, but his brother's, Brad's uncle's, Merle and Ralph spent much of their youth pounding each other and anyone else who wanted to mess with them. Uncle Merle, Brad's favorite uncle, grew up to be a high school teacher and an All-Forces boxing champion during WWII.
I recall mom telling us about her various hijinks during grade school. At one point, she wouldn't talk or respond to the teacher and sat completely silent, ignoring her when she was spoken to. Access Denied! The teacher had to call Grandma Gentile down to the school for a swift end to this. I also recall hearing about how either mom or aunt Ann lit a fire in the trash can in the classroom as a little diversion to the day's lesson. Mom was also feared, as well as revered, in the neighborhood for pounding the neighborhood bully (think A Christmas Story) after he had terrorized many of the local kids for so long.
Mom grew up to be a respectable adult! She also grew up to be a fearless defender of her children against the school system. Mom spent many a day marching down to the school to kick some serious butt on behalf of John, Dave and me (I can only assume this continued to the same extreme with Jenni, Liza, Becki and Ami). One day, I was "talking back" to a yard duty, who had blamed me for something I didn't do, when she got really mad at me and threw a ball at my face. It was just a red rubber playground ball, but it hit me in the face nonetheless. I was also asked to go and sit in detention for the remainder of the day. I made a little phone call home at the beginning of my stint and that was all it took. Mom came down to the school and ate that yard duty for lunch, so to speak. She never worked in that town again! Mom also has the claim to fame of getting several of our elementary school teachers fired (for good reason, I might add), as well as possibly the principal. Of course, that was back in the old days, when school district or government employees could actually be fired for poor performance.
Dad, from what he has told us, was in trouble more at home than he was at school. I remember dad telling us that one time he decided to run away from home and he ran away to................. HIS SCHOOL! Go figure!?! (did I mention that his school was right across the street??) And dad grew up to be a very respectable adult!
Oh the joys of being a parent!
