The other day I dropped Claire and Margot off at school a few minutes before the bell rang to signal the opening of the front doors. Normally go inside with them to their classrooms, but we've been working on independence skills -- we're trying to sometimes let them make the 60 second walk from the front door to their rooms without one of us in attendance. As I dropped them off, I said in my best enthusiastic mommy voice, "The bell is going to ring in a few minutes -- you need to go into school by yourselves like big girls today!"
Later that morning I received a voicemail from my friend Susan (who, being a better parent than I am), had not abandon her own kids at drop off but had stayed to escort them to their classes. She advised that Margot had absolutely refused to go into the building, and that Susan and another friend of our (also named Susan) had chased Margot around outside, pleading with her to go in - to no avail. The second Susan (who is also a more conscientious mother than I am) was particularly alarmed about the possibility of Margot leaving the school grounds altogether and meeting with some kind of foul play. For reasons known only to her, Margot finally agreed to enter the building, but only after the Susans had gone in first.
That afternoon, Margot and I had a conversation about this incident, and I indicated my displeasure with her conduct. She earnestly explained that the reason she would not go into school "with a grown-up" because she needed to go into school by herself.
Which, of course, was exactly what I had instructed her to do.
