The Other Day...

Munchkin's been struggling with school lately.  Not with understanding or behaving or anything, but with stress and anxiety.  She's been dealing with a bully (that problem has been rectified thank heavens), she gets really stressed and upset before taking tests, and now she's having separation issues.  Her teacher has been worried about her, as have I.  Just last week I got a phone call that she'd been hurt, so I went to the school and she wasn't really hurt, but she begged me to take her home or to stay at school with her.

I've been at a loss.  So the other day we had a talk and I gave her some suggestions as well as tried to figure out WHAT was causing all this anxiety in the first place.  I eventually asked her what I could do at home to help her, since I can't come to class with her every day.  Her response, among other things:


"Well, maybe it will help me to not be so stressed at school if I can be surprised and come home to a clean house."

Are you kidding me?  That's the exact same thing my mom said to me when I was a kid, only it was coming home from work!   

In my (feeble) defense, I did mention the need for me to work harder at housework (my words) a few months ago.  I even tied it in with her school and homework.