Morning Tussle

Today, as the girls and I walked to school, we came upon a group of boys, one of whom is in Madeleine's class.  This classmate started to tussle with his older brother, and things quickly escalated to actual kicking and hitting, with Madeleine's classmate in tears.  Another parent and I broke up the fight and I asked Madeleine's classmate if he wanted to walk with us.  He declined, so I just asked if he was okay, and walked a few paces ahead of him in case any fighting started up again.

Aww, yeah.  Hero mom.  Mom of the year.  Kept kids safe, prevented further violence, supervised the rest of the walk to school while not appearing to be supervising.  My kids must have been proud.

WRONG.

After school today, Madeleine and I discussed the morning:

ME: Madeleine, remember those boys fighting on the way to school?  Wasn't that crazy?
MADELEINE: Yes!  I even told my FRIENDS about it!
ME: You did?
MADELEINE: Yeah.  I said, "It was, like, BASICALLY the most EMBARRASSING thing ever."
ME: Wait.  You were embarrassed for the boys?
MADELEINE: No.
ME: You mean *I* embarrassed you??
MADELEINE: Yes.  It was SO embarrassing.
ME: Why?
MADELEINE: Because he DEFINITELY said "no."
ME: So you felt embarrassed when I asked if he wanted to walk with us?
MADELEINE: Well...maybe even when you walked over.

SHEESH.  Who would have thought I could already be embarrassing my daughter when she's only in first grade?

Luckily, my showing up later that morning as Mystery Reader didn't embarrass her.  She was delighted to see me, although she didn't let my presence distract her from finishing up her seat work, nor did it distract her from sitting in "Whole Body Listening" on the rug during Morning Meeting.  Most of the other kids could not keep their bodies still.  Five or six kids got up to get paper towels, drinks or water, or what not, half the kids were unable to keep their bottoms down on their spots on the rug, and there's Madeleine, sitting "criss cross applesauce" in complete silence.  WHO IS THIS KID?!?  Is this the same girl who crossed her arms and yelled "NEVER!" through tears at her kindergarten teacher when asked, "Are you ready to do your must-do work?"  Wow.  Is it too much to hope that Madeleine's emotional maturity has finally caught up with her intellectual ability??

I even got this sweet picture that the teacher snapped and emailed to me:

Thank goodness I was able to save the most embarrassing day ever from being a total flop for Madeleine!