Here’s What DIDN’T Happen

Today at school, TJ’s principal laid down a new law: Because a couple of kids had been hassling one of the kids at the lunch table (apparently an ongoing problem), he was assigning seats for the rest of the year.

TJ looks forward to lunch. He sits with his friends and they talk movies, pets, and just life. The thought of sitting with strangers was more than he could handle. It wasn’t fair, he thought—he hadn’t been part of the meanness—so why should he be punished? He got frustrated. He began to get upset. He marched himself down the hall to the counselor’s office and said, “I’m having a hard time and I need your help.” And she talked him through it, then he went back to class.

But the thought-loop continued. In his next class, it got to be too much all over again. He asked to be excused from class, went to see the counselor, and worked through it again.

This time, he made it until the last period of the day. Again, he got caught up in the thought-loop: “not fair, I didn’t do it, shouldn’t be punished, sitting with strangers, not fair . . ..” And back to the counselor he went.

Here’s what didn’t happen. He did not have a meltdown. He did not cuss anyone out. I didn’t get a call from the school. And it didn’t follow him home.

Even two years ago, all of the above was not only possible, but probable. I never would have believed he could make so much progress in such a short time. But he did.

These kids are amazing!