Being green

Most people who have or have had a child in kindergarten are probably familiar with the color system for communicating behavior. Each day, the kids are given a color based on how their day went - Green for a good day, Yellow for a bit of trouble, Orange for more trouble, and if you get Red, you probably visited the principal. Each day, the color is marked on a calendar, and a parent must sign to show they've seen it.

When school first started, it was fun (is that the word?) to hear the stories of other people's children coming home with a rainbow-colored calendar. Boys (and maybe girls) all around were getting yellows and oranges (not sure I've heard about reds, but maybe that isn't something anyone would talk about.)

My child, of course, got greens. Every day.

These other children have learned from their mistakes and are much more inclined to get green these days. Now I see them after school proudly announcing to their mothers, "I got green today." Then Ben makes the same announcement to me, and I'm thinking, "of course you did! What other color would you get??"

I realized the other day that I should probably be a bit more enthusiastic about Ben's green-ness. I know that I am lucky to have a child who can keep it together while at school (at home, sometimes notsomuch) and he deserves to be praised and encouraged.

So today we celebrated four weeks (almost) of greens with dinner of his choice. His choice? McDonalds. I need to start thinking of a "better" prize for next time!