At last, we have a reaction. I'm almost relieved.
The Ex and I got a call from the school today; First-born has been having what they tactfully described as "behavioural difficulties"
Fortunately, these difficulties have manifested themselves as a sudden drop from a straight-A student down to a straight-F student, pretty much overnight rather than her delivering a knock-out blow to the snotty kid who sits next to her.
I think the cause is obvious enough, I'm just a little surprised its taken as long as it has to show itself. The Ex, of course, blames the school, the teachers and possibly the person who designed the pen with which First-born writes:
She: "I don't understand - how can she suddenly go from getting 20 out of 20 to simply scribbling on the test paper?"
They: "Well, when we've seen this happen before, its normally because something has upset the child; they bottle it up, and it comes out like, well, you can see..."
She: "Well, *I* can't think of anything. She hasn't said anything to *me*"
They: "No, the child wouldn't for fear of hurting your feelings."
She: "Hah - well, the only change I can see is that she's in a new year at school; the new teacher can't be any good"
They: "We can move her to a different class, but all her friends are here, so we'd rather not."
(Rant concerning quality of teaching of the schol from The Ex excised)
They: "Ok, well, we're sorry you feel that way"
Me: "Don't worry, I think its probably the finality of me getting my own place thats done it, along with The Ex shipping all pictures of me and my family out a couple of weeks back."
...
Me: (I couldn't resist it) "And I expect moving her father out and the new boyfriend in within a week might have a delayed bearing..."
They: "Really? Yes, well there could certainly be a delayed reaction. The best thing to do is to give First-born lots of support and understanding for the next few months. She will most likely snap of it."
And there we have it. Even when you think your kids are doing fine, and you've made every effort to be amicable and nice, this can still come and bite you on the bottom.
