P.P.P. And Poop

As a reminder I don't make this stuff up.

P.P.P. is an acronym for Piss Poor Parenting.  To keep things in chronological order I have to discuss Poop before P.P.P..  By the way my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse just looked over my should, read the first two sentences in this paragraph and slugged my in the arm.

Gnu informed me one morning that a first grade scholar would be joining us for our afternoon group sessions a couple times a week.  As a reminder IvyL and Oreo hold group social skills sessions daily with our scholars.  The goal of these sessions is to talk about ways to control your anger plus how to act in group actives such as games and sports without getting angry and starting fights.  Being curious I asked Gnu why this was happening.  She informed me that this scholar has anger control issues but not bad enough to be a permanent member of our classroom.  I was good with the addition of a part time scholar so I asked her what his name was.  She told me and as with all of our scholars no real names are used so I'll call him Big.

A couple days later it was getting close to our group session time and Gnu tells me that she was going to get Big.  A couple minutes later she returns to the room empty handed.  "Where's Big," I ask.  "He's changing his clothes and apparently he changes his clothes regularly around this time of day."  A few minutes later Gnu makes a return visit to the first grade and this time returns with Big.  Rather than have Big join the whole group at the front table she places him at The Collector's desk and sits next to him as group starts.  With three adults in the room I walk out of the room and head to the high powered pencil sharpener that is in Oreo's office.  With sharpened pencils in hand I return to the room and as I walk in I sense an aroma.  I look around and see Gnu sitting next to Big and she has the scarf she is wearing pulled up over her nose.  So you know, Gnu does not do well with pungent odors.  I sit at my desk which puts me right behind Big and Gnu and think about what to do.  Being a top notch instructional assistant I have a plan and decide to take one for the team.  I get up, walk over to Gnu and suggest that she move to the front table with everyone else and I'll sit with Big.  Without hesitation she moves.  About twenty minutes later group ends and I take Big back to his classroom.  When I return IvyL and Oreo are still in the room talking to the scholars.  When seated at my desk I get Gnu's attention and wave her over.  As she approaches I tell her to have a seat.  Once she is seated I say, "you owe me big time for rescuing you."  "Oh my God!  When I was sitting next to him I noticed that his hands were dirty so I asked him how he got chocolate all over his hands.  He told me it wasn't chocolate but he pooped his pants earlier in the day."  I'm up quickly and heading for the Saniwipes.

So much for Poop so let's move on to P.P.P.  Oh, I forget to tell you my fee for taking one for the team was three candy bars.  They were on my desk when I arrived the next morning.

The day is over and the scholars are on the bus.  Gnu and I are in the room putting things back in order when Oreo walks into the room.  "There was a bus incident" she says.  "NoFouls and his brother got into a fight with each other and the bus monitor kicked them off the bus".  "I'm trying to call there mother but I'm certain she is either ignoring my calls or blocking my calls."  Gnu speaks up saying to Oreo, "how are they going to get home?"  Oreo responds that IvyL was going to take them home but when the two of them were in the back seat of her car they starting arguing so she brought them back into the school.  Oreo continues that as of right now we are waiting for the school corporation police to arrive and take them home.  Despite all of this drama I'm tired and decide to head for home.

It's the next day and as I walk past our school office czar he informs me that NoFouls and his brother have been suspended from the bus for three days.  I then ask the office czar what happened when the police arrived.  He stated that NoFouls was still angry and was yelling at anyone and everyone.  In the midst of his anger NoFouls let forth a string of F-bombs directed at the police officer who was about 6'4" tall and somewhere near 300 pounds.  With all of that said I can now get to the P.P.P. part.

After placing an X in the box next to my name at the sign in station so I get paid for the day I headed to the classroom.  As I entered the room Gnu was already there and informed me that NoFouls was suspended from the bus for three days.  I tell her I just heard the news.  She then says to me "do you think he will be at school today?"  "No, as the last time he was suspended from the bus his parental unit informed us that she had made other plans for the day and taking her son to school was not one of them."  "But he is suspended from the bus for three days this time" Gnu states.  "Yes, but I still think it is a long shot that he will be here."

You were just given an example of piss poor parenting at it's finest.  Gnu and I, for whatever reason, have chosen to work with some of the most challenging scholars in our school.  We've been cussed out, flipped off, bitten, punched, kicked, scratched and have dodged flying objects that were intentionally thrown at us and for our effort were have to deal with a parental unit whose priorities are herself and not the education of her offspring.  When NoFouls finally returned to school Gnu asked him what he did for the three days he was not at school.  His response was to play video games all day.

A parental unit totally ignores her responsibility when it comes to the education of her offspring and suffers no consequences.  If this young scholar does poorly on an acquity test and/or an ISTEP test Gnu's teaching ability comes into question.  Such is the life of a classroom teacher and an instructional assistant who has a view from the back of the room.