Stand up for yourself

I make it a point to ask the Bear about her day on the way home from school. Despite open ended questions, the typical answer is ‘good’, ‘jacket potato and beans’, ‘can I have a snack when we get home’.

Yesterday, we sat on the sofa and watched one of her favourite cartoons. ‘Mama, I have to tell you something’. She sounded very serious.

It transpired that her teacher told her off for having paint on her fingers after art class, then proceeded to tell her that she was surprised that the Bear had copied someone else’s artwork! The Bear is very creative and can spend hours doing arts and craft, designing and painting. ‘This new boy is always looking at my work, Mama and Mrs X accused me of copying him’. She was extremely upset about this but didn’t stand up to the teacher as she ‘didn’t want to appear rude’.

I quizzed her on what she drew. Her eyes lit up. ‘ A slide, a football net, a swing…’ Playground equipment, seemingly. ‘Did you copy him?’, I asked. ‘Of course not’, she replied indignantly. I gently coaxed her to speak to her teacher the next day and tell Mrs X that there were no copyright issues involved. The Bear couldn’t stomach the thought of it. The Hubby joined in and told her how important it was to stand up for herself and that she could express her feelings to her teacher politely. As an incentive, the Hubby offered her £10 if she went through with it. As did I.

The Bear point blank refused. Not wanting to pressure her, we left it.

The next day when I picked her up after school, she shouted to me ‘I did it, Mama, I told Mrs X that I didn’t copy anyone. I was 1/4 filled with fear and 3/4 brave!’ Seemingly Mrs X just muttered ‘Ok’.

We paid up by the way. Asked what made her do it, the Bear said she wanted to clear her name. Fair deuce, Bear, fair deuce.