Middle School Sucks (probably the first in a series of these)

I think I could write a whole series of blog posts about why middle school sucks.  Not for me, of course.  I'm 40-something, and my memories of 30 years ago are mostly positive.  But, man, watching my kids go through it -- some days it just makes my stomach hurt.

Here's one example.

We mostly start school in mid-August.  After attempting unsuccessfully to get into a different school through a lottery system, Mimi resigned herself to attending our neighborhood middle school.  She would know lots of kids from her elementary school.  It's not that far from the house.  Her brother's been attending for a couple of years, so she wasn't going in blind.

On the afternoon of the first day of middle school, I picked up the kids after school.  In anticipation of potential first-day blues, I had planned to drive straight to Dairy Queen after school, promising the kids that after they recited three good things that happened at school, I'd buy them a DQ treat. But before I could even tell them the plan, Mimi barely got her body into the car when she burst into tears.

Trying to calm her, I brightly persuaded her brothers to go first.  For them, it was easy:  Tot told me about what he ate when he got to buy lunch, how he played with some friends at recess, and how much he loves his first grade teacher.  Ace told me how happy he was to have the same Social Studies teacher, that he had a friend in every single class, and that he didn't have any homework.  Mimi just sobbed, told me I didn't understand.  There was nothing good about school.

After I pressed for a while, she relented and told me the story.  There were two girls who were her friends from elementary school.  One was in every one of her classes.  You'd think that would be good news, right? Of course not.  This is middle school.

On the first day of school, Mimi dressed carefully.  Just before the school year began, Mimi found a pair of super cute Steve Madden shoes.  So cute that she agreed to let me buy a pair for myself in a different color.  She wore those new, black Steve Madden shoes on the first day of school.  And instead of complimenting her, her "friends" asked her why she needed such fancy shoes.  Said she was acting like she was "too good" for regular shoes like everyone else.  Then also insulted her t-shirt choice.  She held it together at school, but by the time she made it to the car, she was done.  She didn't wear the shoes for another two weeks.

Stupid middle school girls.