Skipping

Today we got a phone call from the school. Stephanie and a group of friends were found to be skipping their Service Learning class (on Thursdays they go to a local elementary school to tutor) to go to McDonald's. She has been suspended through Monday. Tomorrow is a half-day, so it isn't as harsh as it sounds, but I was still very dissappointed.

Last night, I was showing her Dad around the grade reporting website and saw that her big English paper had been graded and she'd made a 95 on it. It brought her grade for the class up to a B. I left her a note this morning telling her how proud I was of her.

Then she went and did a silly thing like this. Not only were they cutting class, they were shortchanging these kids who needed their help, they were crossing a VERY busy street and a VERY unpleasant part of town. There is no limit to the bad things that could have happened.

Joe and I discussed it and decided that Stephanie would work 8 hours a day Friday, Saturday and Monday, as well as 5 hours on Sunday, in our book-shop. She is also going to do at least four hours of community service and is grounded from the phone and computer for two weeks.

When I picked her up this afternoon, I didn't say anything about it. I wanted to wait and hear what she had to say. When we got home, I started dinner and she came in the kitchen and said, "I need to talk to you." She didn't know that I already knew. She asked if I had spoken to Joe and I told her yes. She said, "Well, I wrote you a letter about what happened and I want to read it to you."


Dear Mom,

I know you're mad and I'm very, very sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. I know I shouldn't have done it. I know what could have happened. I'm sorry I put you through that. I'm sorry that I let you down. You were so proud of me and I screwed it up. I was doing so good until I let people tell me what to do. I knew what I was doing was wrong and I know I shouldn't have done it. I've been so stupid today; please fogive me. I thought this school would help me, but I am just getting into more trouble. I'm not going to lie to you. Yes, I went to McDonalds and it was stupid, too. I don't care what the punishment is, I only care about disappointing you and not making you proud of me anymore. I'm sorry I disappointed you.

I think she was a bit hard on herself, but I was glad to see that she handled this in a mature way. I fully expected a lot of excuses and whining and griping and yelling, but there was none of that. I guess we have made a lot of progress.