More G Drama.

Doggone it, but I got a call from the school. Seems he's having (ahem) difficulty "staying on task" and "letting the teacher be in charge" and "not disturbing others" of late. And I've been asked oh-so-gently about what G eats for breakfast. Because Mr. L just "happened to notice" that G is bringing in a LOT of candy from the vending machines. And were you sending "all that money" with him each morning thinking he was going to buy lunch? Just wondering...?

All that money, you see... well, it shouldn't exist. G gets $2 a week for cleaning all the toilets in the house. Then he tithes on that. $1.80 a week shouldn't buy you too much candy. Every now and then I'll let him "babysit" while I'm in another room for $2 an hour. But he shouldn't have a big stash of money. His case manager Mrs. A told me that would get him exactly two candy bars with a stupid dime left over if he spent his $1.80 allowance. So he has to be spending a LOT of money and I'm wondering where he's getting it. Mrs. A said she's not really concerned about that but um, I am.

Ok, is he taking stupid dares at school and eating bugs or whatever for cash? Mrs. A tells me that at this age, no one is going to give money for stupid dares. Usually dares are done for free. Hmm... I would ordinarily expect "drug dealer" to come up next on the list but his interpersonal skills are so crappy that he'd be busted on the first deal.

The only other answer is that he's spent ALL his money on candy or has gotten into my secret dollar stash (dear potential robbers, it contains about $8, which is not worth your going to jail for at my taxpayin' expense, but it helps me pay allowance and stuff without rushing to the bank on a Saturday morning. Yes, $8 covers all the children and their allowances because I am CHEAP. But I am the only place the children can earn cash bwa ha ha haaaaaaaa....)

We've interrogated the child and it turns out that he not only spent all his money on candy, but all his EMERGENCY money as well. He's required to have $5 in emergency funds in case I have to drive him to school. (We just covered this a couple posts back.) The problem used to be that he would spend all his money, misbehave and miss the bus on purpose, and then OOPS not have my $5. So in order to SPEND any money, the children have to tithe and have that $5 transport fee in savings.

I'm so miffed at him.

And I'm miffed that I had to deal with the concerned phone call about what the kid eats and you know, mayyyybe, just mayyyyybe, having 500 candy bars and a couple sodas in the morning might be why he's giving me a hard time when I teach him in the afternoon, Mrs. C?

Aargh. I really like his teacher and I'd hate for her to think I'm starving him or feeding him bunches of sugar and then setting him loose at school to watch the fun.

Because it's no fun unless I get a ringside seat to see how other people deal with it for a change.

(*gasp* Did I just say that??? Ok, I think I'll leave it in and see if I get accused of not being spiritual enough. Not praying enough over my kid. Getting tired of "stuff" and just not handling it well any more. Can I admit to not handling it well any more? Mom is tired.)

Well, now G is going to have to earn $5 back before he gets to "zero." And I will hold that $5 in safekeeping. This is just what I did NOT want to do because it sets me up as the person who unfairly takes all G's money. (I think we kinda covered that idea, too.) G right now is recognizing that he has a spending problem. BUT that doesn't mean he's going to recognize that he's not able to handle money in general without some input later on when he wants *whatever* at the store...

More coming on this front, I'm sure. Poor G is going to have a hard time with all his money being gone, but I'm wondering how much money the school made off this kid. I'm thinking he started out with about $15.