Like "christmas in february" or "My job sucks" or the perinial "Someone is out to get me".
I guess I shall explain. 1) thanks to the surprises, Really, I'm not good at being demonstrative but I mean it, thanks.
2) I love most things about my job. The two students I work with are fabulous people. But there are certain aspects that I do not like. One is the fact that the mother and assorted hangers on of one of my students has decided to not like me. She had a friend who was apparently in the running for the position that I ended up getting (forget the fact that this friend can't pass the drug/background checks and isn't anywhere near qualified). So, there has been a bit of animosity from that camp. (Need I remind people of the "mrs. godzillas" incident?) I send home notes every day about what the students did and how thigns went any problems or concerns we have get mentioned too. It does not fail that if I say "C was twenty minutes late to class, he needs to either be done with breackfast before the bell or eat it with me and the other student" the mother responds "my housekeeper (read friend who gets paid to do minor care giving to the mother who is a diabetic amputee)" says he was there on time so I don't know what you are talking about.
Well, let me spell it out T-H-E K-I-D N-E-E-D-S T-O N-O-T B-E W-A-N-N-D-E-R-I-N-G T-H-E H-A-L-L-S B-E-F-O-R-E S-C-H-O-O-L!
And then there is the fact that this selfsame housekeeper will decide to pick the kid up from school and show up twenty to thirty minutes early and just pick him up and take him, and the specail ed teacher lets her. She isn't on any paperwork I've seen as a person authorized to take the kid from school, not to mention the fact that WE WORK TO THE BELL! If there isn't an appointment or an emergency, there is no reason to be getting him out early. This kid is in trouble with the juvinile justice authority for chronic tardiness earlier this year. He doesn't need any more trouble on teh other end. And the sad part is that it isn't his fault, he is at the mercy of these idiots who are screwign around with him. And of course, the specail ed teacher is fine with all of it. Pisses me off.
3) The Idea that someon is out to make my life harder then it needs to be. REmember last december when the social worker showed up because someone had made a stupid call about the kids, and she reffered us to these other people who call themselves "family preservation". The idea being to get gideon under better control and (I have to admit) my house tends to be too much of a pigsty.
I cooperated with the voluntary social workers mostly because I figured not cooperating would be worse for me. They come once a week, sit and chat (not kidding, its like a visit) and then leave. They brought some material about disciplening difficult kids and somethign called "the fly lady" about house keeping.
I have been doing better at keeping things clean and I think gideon will grow out of all this. Anyway, yesterday another social worker showed up at my door. Some one had called in a report that day about Isaiah being filthy and the little boys running around outside unsupervised and somethign about crackers that never was clarified. Lucky for me I had just finished doing dishes and the living room was freshly picked up. I told her about working with these other people, she looked at the kids and then left.
The part that bothers me is that all she had was Isaiah's first name and our address. ITs like someone who didn't even know us at all made a report. And that begs the question, why wold anyone make a report on someone about something that they didn't know?
And this is where my innate paranoia gets going. I have two theoreys. 1) the parent/houskeeper pair who don't like me, they live in the same apartment complex that I do. It wouldn't surprise me in the least that she was trying to stir up some sort of trouble. 2) I don't remember if I blogged this or not, but last week I stepped in to something that wasn't strickly my bussiness.
The couple that moved into the apartment next to me was always fighting, at first I was just annoyed and complained to the landlords. But then one day I noticed that the female was litterally crying and stuck in the door while. Her husband had shut her arm in it in an attempt to keep her from leaving the house. First I called 911 and then I went out and got her into my apartment to wait for the police.
The husband (brave man that he is) left the baby alone in the apatment and took off out the back door as soon as he realized that the police were coming. Seh swore out a statement against him and I gave a statement too. He was arrested and a TRO was taken out keeping him from coming near the apartment, her or the baby.
WEll, that hasn't stopped his family from coming over on a fairly regular basis. I think they are trying to browbeat this girl into taking it all back (she has an IQ of about 70, seriously not bright). The catch is this, the family knows Isaiah. He plays with the brave husbands little brother.
The report had Isaiah's first name, and this location. They know Isaiah, but not me, not the littel guys, They know we live here. How likely is this to be an attempt to either make trouble for me for stepping in or to discredit me and my potential testimony.
Am I paranoid, I don't know. I do know that I am a good mother. I know that my kids have a wholesome and healthy place to live in. I know that more people need to step in to help women in that sort of position. I also know that I am far from perfect, but I have nothing to hide, so to the unseen person or force sending this trouble my way. BRING IT.
4 comments:
Talk about a barrel of crap. Anyway I LOVE The Flylady!! I use her method about twice a year (deep cleaning). The biggest part about keeping a place clean according to her is being tidy and getting rid of clutter, very true. Now I have no clutter and the place looks great. The flylady even has a place on how to get kids involved. It is all about routine and 15 minutes of your time, baby steps.
yeah, I liked that she didn't insist that everything get done everyday. Its over whelming like that. A lady who works with the socoal services people is coming over tomarrow to help me de-clutter. (Just the idea of her in teh house has me cleaning the bulk of "mess" so that we can focus on clutter, there was talk of getting rid of soem toys).
You know you are a good mother, a messy house doesn't mean you are a bad mother, it sounds normal to me.
agree with kim, it is normal, and frankly this smacks of some kind of discrimination to me. there are days where if someone walked into my house, they'd be shocked. but i am married and fairly well off, so that would never happen. why should a struggling single mother (who has it harder than most of us) be subjected to that kind of condescension? my mother (who was a FABULOUS mom) often says that her own mother used to "tsk tsk" at the piles of laundry and dishes in her house, and she used to say - I am playing with my babies. the housekeeping can wait.
your kids are loved. the social workers should be NEXT DOOR saving that poor baby from an abusive household, not in an apartment where there are crumbs and scattered magazines and love.
having said that little rant, Alley I think you will be happier if you're more organized. there was a really interesting Oprah on the other day (yes I like Oprah!) about the link between clutter in your house and clutter in your mind and life, and how it's usually just a sign of a larger need. so I hope this works out well.
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