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Friday, September 15, 2017

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it......

I am sooo proud of Brady.  He is adjusting and transitioning into Simmons Middle School like a pro...I am NOT surprised there!  He also earned a spot on the newspaper staff...I am NOT surprised by that either!

What I am very proud about (a maybe a tad bit surprised by, but not much) is that he did it all on his own!  What do I mean by that?  Transitioning to middle school has DEFINITELY been a transition.  I can be quoted as saying: "I feel like we went from having our hands held (Bluff Park Elementary) to being kicked in the teeth.  It would be nice if they either started letting our hands go toward the end of 5th grade or ease us in by letting our hands go during the first month or so of middle school BEFORE they kick us in the teeth."  What do I mean by that? At Bluff Park teachers communicate with you frequently - at least weekly - with what is going on, what is due, what is coming up, what is expected, etc.  The school as a whole sends out a weekly newsletter with school-wide information AND papers come home - fliers, etc. so you know what happenings there are.  At Simmons Middle, EVERYTHING is electronic, specific to that particular teacher, placed solely in the hands of the student, and there are NO papers!!

So now that the stage is set, I can go into my story about why I am so proud of this guy!  I looked on his 6th grade team's calendar, newsletter, or something online and saw that the newspaper staff was taking applications until Sept. 1st to all students who were interested in applying.  There was a link in which to apply online.  I saw it a couple of times, but each time I was not with Brady and I would think "I need to mention this to Brady; he might be interested".  When I was with Brady, this thought NEVER came to mind.

I thought about it again on Tuesday, 9/5 while I was at my desk at work and thought "oh no!  I think we missed the deadline." I got online and checked, and sure enough, we had missed it.  There was even a list of those who were chosen posted to congratulate them and I scanned, looking for Brady's name, just in case he took the initiative and applied without me knowing.  I did not see it!  I was sad - not even sure that he wanted to apply - because I felt mom guilt that I forgot to say "Hey, Brady.  I saw online that you can apply to be on the newspaper staff.  That sounds like something you would like; do you want to apply?"  For some reason - not sure why - I felt particularly guilty that I forgot to mention this.

A few hours later I am picking Brady up from school per usual.   I ask him about his day as I always do and - in pure Brady fashion - he tells me ALL about it.  As part of his speech he says "Oh, and Mrs. Simms (his homeroom teacher & Language Arts teacher) announced that myself and Knox Redmond were given a position on the newspaper staff.  She said we were the only two on the 6-1 team."  I said: "WHAT?!", with tears filling my eyes, "I did not know you applied.  I have been feeling guilty ALL day because I meant to mention the opportunity to you several times before the deadline and kept forgetting."  "I even saw the list and your name was not on there." In true Brady fashion - concerned about my feelings - "Don't feel guilty Mom, it is not your fault if I don't apply. I just did it myself.  I filled out the application and I had to submit an article so I wrote an article about Donald Trump." Meanwhile I am trying not to cry; I know makes no real sense.  I said: "When did you do this?"  He said: "I think it was the night you had 6th grade parent night so you were not at school.  I got on my chromebook and did it; Dad was home."  (It turns out they had not updated the post about newspaper staff and it was the congratulations for the 2016-2017 staff; in my guilt I had overlooked reading that detail.)

I am PROUD because there was something he wanted to do and he just did it, without any prompting or hand holding.  I am PROUD because he is transitioning well and accepting the "I need to stay current on what is being posted for my team and my school online" position well.  I am PROUD because he cared about my feelings and has the compassion and emotional intelligence to recognize that, if he is in a position where independence is expected, it is not anyone else's mistake/fault/problem if he does not get something done or go after something.

Good job, Brady Mac, good job!!

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