"I'd Wear Purple..."

I was throwing some laundry into the washing machine today and suddenly the absolute humor of something that happened at school today struck me and I couldn't stop laughing.

There's a little gal in my 6th grade choir that I will call "Sandra" (to protect the little ones and all that). She doesn't want to be there, along with about half the class. They signed up for art; the school couldn't find a teacher. Such is life.

Anyway, Sandra is a pint-sized Little Miss Popular. She is a natural leader, and if she's not careful, she'll be a natural Mean Girl when she hits high school. When she's good, she's a charming, adorable, easy girl to know. Unfortunately, Sandra has beaucoup issues to deal with. Fortunately, she has a stepmom who is not giving up on her.

But this story is not about Sandra's home life. She is, as I stated above, quite the leader of 6th grade girls. They seem to follow her lead, and she doesn't quite grasp the whole, "Class time is not the time for your little mini-dramas" rule.

Today I had to have a little chat with Sandra and "Molly," her little friend, after class. I started with Molly.

"Molly--Sandra, I'm not talking to you. Wait. Molly, when Sandra was sent out last week, you did a great job. Why can't you behave better when Sandra is here?"

I received a blank look at this and decided to try another tack.

"Okay, if Sandra called you and said, 'Wear purple tomorrow,' what would you do?"

Molly didn't miss a beat. "I'd wear purple!"

"Okay...why?"

"She's my friend!"

"Molly...if Sandra told you to rob the Chevron down the road, would you do it?"

Long pause. "Well, no."

"Right. So why do you misbehave when she does in class?"

"I don't!"

"She doesn't! I don't lead her, she leads me!"

"Sandra, wait your turn. Molly, you were great last week when Sandra was sent to another room. Now she's back, and you're in trouble."

Blank look.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to call your parents, tell them that their daughter is misbehaving in choir, and only because her friend is."

"Fine. I don't care."

"Okay. Well, I'd think about how much you do because Sandra does it."

I excused Molly then so she could go to her next class, and tackled Sandra one-on-one. Then I spoke to her stepmom on the phone and heard that Sandra is pulling the attitude at home, as well. There's some work to be done there.

What made me laugh later was thinking of Molly's quick, sure response to my question. "I'd wear purple!" It says so much about the age group I have chosen to work with, and how much they are working to find their identity. Some days I question why I went into this line of work (what kind of masochist am I??) and other days I really feel like smacking some of these kids--but I'll save Layla's story for another day. Most of the time, though, I get such a kick out of them, even when they're at their worst.

Let's just hope Molly develops her own identity soon.