Proud Mom, meet Angry Mom

Danger Boy has not had a stellar educational run, as of yet. He has ADHD and some yet undefined learning disabilities that make school very difficult for him even though he is labeled as "gifted and talented."

In third grade, he has had an outstanding teacher (who I wish we could take with us for the rest of his school career). I seriously love this woman and would kidnap her and hold her hostage in my house if I had the room. Lucky for her we are so crowded and cluttered, eh?

So anyway, she told me I would be getting a note. Notes aren't usually good things for us so as soon as I picked up Danger Boy at school, I asked for the note and read it. It turns out it is awesome news! DB is getting an award at an assembly on Friday for the Most Improved Student!! I tell you, I was so proud I could have popped when I read that. But I remained calm. The letter said he wouldn't be informed of the honor until the ceremony, so I folded the letter back up, stuck it in the envelope and placed it back in his backpack.

That was my first mistake...

When we got home, my mom called. I talked to her for a very short time and, as I was telling her about the honor, remembered the note in his backpack. Now keep in mind that DB never opens his backpack until I remind him multiple times that he needs to do homework, so I wasn't really worried at all. I walked back to his room and what did I find laying in the floor? Bingo - the letter, laying open and obviously read in the floor.

Here comes my second mistake...

I proceeded to get angry and yell. I told him how that letter was meant for me and had my name on it and how you aren't supposed to read other people's mail and how he had ruined his surprise.

After calming down, I realized I had never told him how proud I was of his award. Instead of making lemonade with those lemons and celebrating the honor, I yelled at him and made him feel bad. I was having major mom guilt...and, you know, I was probably most mad because I wouldn't get to see his surprise. Selfish, I know.

So I called Danger Boy in and told him how proud I was and what an honor he was getting and really tried to make it better. I reminded him not to open notes intended for me ever again, but I tried to make my pride in his achievement overshadow all the rest. He started bawling. Yeah, that made me feel better.