Sticks and Stones

It was bound to happen at some point, but this has been the year of the put down.  Welcome to second grade!  Hadley is a frequent reporter of other people's behavior, so I've heard who-has-said-what-to-whom throughout the year (interestingly enough, I have not been kept current on what-Hadley-says-to-whom, so I can either live in blissful ignorance or let my imagination soar).  Hadley experienced her first put down of her hearing aids when one kid called her "Alien Head" (yes, to you ultra rad readers out there: I know the other meaning, and I can only hope that the 8 year old who said it does not.  And, no, I'm not going to define it, but the helpful people at Urban Dictionary can do that for you). 

After talking about the who-what-where-and-why's of the situation (classmate, while working on a team project, because they were arguing about which idea to use), we moved on to how this made her feel.  Hadley sighed, rolled her eyes, and patiently explained to me that kids will tease other kids about anything and that if she didn't have hearing aids, she'd be teased about something else.  (Hmm, looks like someone paid attention in those anti-bullying programs they ran at school this year.  Or they covered this in an episode of Phineas and Ferb).  And besides, the kid didn't know what he was talking about, since she needs hearing aids to hear.  There was really no need for me to add my $.02 so, other than silently noting that something I had once worried about was a complete non-issue, we moved on from it. 

With all of the spring sports going on, we've had loads of opportunities in the last month to see Hadley out and about with her peers.  One of us made some comment to Hadley about how she knows a lot of the girls and that so many of them came over to say hello to her.  She didn't roll her eyes this time but with a I-can't-believe-I-have-to-spell-this-out-out-for-you sigh said, "Everyone knows me.  I'm the only girl with hearing aids in school.  Of course they remember my name!" 

"Confidence in self", checked off the list.  Now just back to regular parenting, like making sure she's not the one doing the name calling.