What am I gonna do with this kid?

[SteveDallas]

Today my daughter came home from school with a letter. It said, basically, that one of the school staff had noticed her doing something exceptionally nice, beyond what they normally expect, for another student. As a result she's had her name put down for the "good citizenship" award. (The prize is a special before-school breakfast with some of the others who got it.) (I know you're all wondering what she did. I am too--the letter didn't say, and she's not really sure herself!)

While she was doing her homework it came to light that she had spilled paint over her homework assignment book. She had rewritten the assignments for math, language arts, and science. She hadn't rewritten anything for social studies. Now, it just so happened that the extent of the paint "spillage" covered Tuesday. Not Monday. Not Wednesday. So being the suspicious person that I am, I got a butter knife and started scraping. Sure enough there was a note from her social studies teacher that she bombed a test last week and needed to retake it.

I don't mind her messing the test up nearly as much as I do that she a) pulled this paint trick and b) thought we'd fall for it. But it's just highly ironic, and typical, that it came on the same day as the letter about the good conduct award.