Principals office......again.

I knew that something was up when I asked the boys how their day at school went and my eldest quickly replied, "I need to tell you something......in private." Making a mental note to check on Cade who was brooding under his jacket with hood pulled up, I followed Aric to his bedroom. Once in the room he looked at me with these big eyes and quickly stated he had good news and not so good news. Not saying a word I simply cocked my head and raised my eyebrows and he continued. He started off by explaining he was in the principals office today but was quick to point out he didn't get in trouble and it wasn't his fault. Now, I love my son dearly but I know him all to well and at this admission am beginning to question his claim of "innocence". Starting from the beginning I learned there were some words expressed by a friend of his at lunch that Aric felt were inappropriate and should not be said at school. Aric asked his friend to stop and when he didn't he just decided to leave and go to recess. (At this point I was thinking WOW he actually used good judgement - maybe, just maybe, some things might be sinking into that head of his. Now I'm wondering where exactly does the principal part come into play?) Once outside and involved in a game the same friend asked to join in and Aric remained silent. Ahhh....the good ol' silent treatment will fix the problem. Apparently the silence just escalated the anger and that's when his friend just slapped him "for no reason at all". Now I'm quickly grasping the whole picture. When I asked, "Did you tell him why you wouldn't let him play?" he just squirmed and said, "no." We hashed out the need for him to explain the reasoning to his friend as opposed to completely shutting him out and ignoring him. Overall I'm pleased that he showed good judgement, didn't engage in a fight, and was honest with me about the incident. We obviously still need a little work with the communication portion of his problem solving.

Boys being boys, there are no hard feelings and as far as they're concerned the entire event is ancient history. My hope is that he won't see the inside of the principals office again but then again this is Aric that we're talking about.