Parent-teacher conferences were, on the whole, a relief.  Grant has had a great year, and his amazing teacher is super fond of him.  She promised to tell me if he had any rough days.

I heard from her last week.

Grant woke up in a terrible mood on Monday.  No idea what might have contributed, but it was undeniable.  He was emotional and frustrated and short tempered and a complete pain.  I tried to get him to calm down, but it didn't seem to work.  I got a call and two emails from the teacher.  (Love that woman.)

The big problem:  Grant hitting himself in the face/head out of frustration.  Think Rainman.

Well, you might recall that I had seen this once before.  After I got home, I talked with Grant, but avoided asking what happened.  Instead we just talked about being upset at school.

Me:  Grant, you know that hitting someone when you are upset is not okay, right?
G:  yeah.
Me:  Well, hitting yourself is just as not okay.
G:  *looks upset and on the verge of frustrated tears*
Me:  I notice that when you are upset, your body is upset, too.  You rub your feet together, and clench your fists and grimace... It's all very physical.  Let's both try to think if things that you can physically do, even in line, that won't cause problems for you or anyone else.

Grant seemed pleased at that conversation.  He gave me a big hug.  I wonder if part of it was that someone noticed, and he didn't have to go through the difficulty of trying to explain.

I called his teacher about it.  She offered Grant a stress ball to keep in his desk and carry on the days that feel to Grant like Monday did.  I was not prepared for Grant's reaction.  He was so relieved and happy that he almost burst into tears.  Obviously, a big moment for me as well.  Such a small thing.  Such a big help.  At least he feels prepared now.

As for Abbie, her conference was different from Grant's, and different from her usual, as well.  Abbie's teacher praised her academics (she's on the principal's honor roll for straight A's.  Grant had two A-.) She is actually going to save a paragraph Abbie wrote to use in all her future classes.  Teachers used to do that with my work, as well.  I was just surprised she asked my permission.  She thinks Abbie's listening skills are impressive, too.  But her behavior with the other kids is not okay.  First of all, she picks her friends unwisely.  Then, she is uncooperative and controling, especially during group work.