The Runtyun got caught doing bad.
I got a call the other day from her school. The happy voice on the phone identified herself as the Vice Principal for the ninth graders. She asked how was my day going. And I replied, "Fine, until now."
This got a little chuckle from her and, "I understand."
It turns out that my little girl skipped out of her class using the excuse that she needed to use the restroom. It turns out that she was going to a liaison with a boy.
She might have gotten away with it, but the school's security system ( It is a shame that we now have to use 1984esc. systems to protect our kids) recorded the whole thing.
Now this is disturbing on so many levels, but this post is not about her. It is about how I handled the whole thing. My first question: was she being coerced into this thing: was the boy forcing her to kiss him?
No, I was told, it looked like she was participating voluntarily. Well, at least I don't have to do anything stupid.
The voice on the phone and I talked around the whole thing and I felt good about how the school was going to handle it. Finally, I asked the Vice Principal not to tell The Runtyun we had spoken on the phone. I wanted to see if she would come clean about it.
She failed that test. When I asked her if anything different happened at school. I got the normal response: "No, everything is cool." My heart hurt, but I said nothing.
On Saturday, I sent the vice principal a note asking how far they had gone in their showing of affection. I suggested that we could use the old time baseball metaphor, after all it worked in the old Meatloaf song, right?
I was told that nothing really happened. But while I was having this conversation, guess who came into the room. My cover was blown. Now not only did the Runtyun have to tell all, but so did her father.
I saw the fear in her eyes. I determined that I would not overreact. So I asked her what it was all about. She told me pretty much everything that my friend on the phone said.
I was not comfortable with her skipping out of class the way she did, and I let her know it. I told her it was OK to have a boyfriend, though a little confusing. As we talked, I could see she was relaxing, so was I.
I stressed the importance of being honest about all things, at all times, especially with her father.
What I did not do was yell at her, or denounce her as a lying bad person. I did tell her that I was disappointed in he for the deception. Finally, we hugged and reminded eachother of our love.
olc
