Catholic School Days – Buzzing around the school yard before the “Social Activism” years. (Disclaimer: Most of these girls were not the “ribbon cutters!”)

I wrote an article recently that my family affectionately nicknamed “The Bully Blog.” It centered around an almost-bullying episode in my youngest daughter’s life that was thwarted by me. I gave the piece a catchy title, “My Worst Nightmare – What a If I Raised The Bully?

“http://www.faithit.com/worst-nightmare-raising-the-bully-leslie-blanchard/

But – it will live on in posterity as “The Bully Blog.”  After the post went viral, it sparked a family discussion of several other “dodged-a-bully” experiences we had during the exhaustively arduous process of raising 5 kids…

One such incident that we recall with utter clarity, is a story we refer to as, “The White Ribbon Campaign.” It’s a saga about an unfortunate 5th grade boy,  budding sexuality, a spool of white satin ribbon, some Hitler-style armbands and Feminism gone awry.  Unsurprisingly, my fair-haired daughter was right in the thick of things, yet again.

It started on a seemingly innocuous Wednesday afternoon in March, as I pulled into the parking lot of my children’s Catholic grade school to drop something off. As I negotiated my parking space, I waved at Sue, another mother I vaguely knew, who was walking out of the school office with her son Chandler in tow. She did not wave back. Neither one of them looked happy. In fact, Chandler, a “spirited” boy, looked downright broken.

I hoped there wasn’t a bug going around.

Well…there certainly was a “bug.” There were several.  I just didn’t yet realize that one of the bugs was my very own daughter, one of a hive of Queen Bees down at the schoolyard.   But, my prescience hadn’t kicked in full-throttle.  I dropped off whatever it was in the school office and didn’t give the matter a second thought, until later that afternoon in the carpool pick up line.

One thing I have to say about my darling offspring, if I listen for the right cues, and then proceed with the proper questioning, she will give herself  right up. It’s like watching an episode of Law and Order MVU (Mini Van Unit). One of the first things she rattled off about her school day was that, “Chandler went home early.”

“Oh, yeah…I saw him with his Mom. Was he sick? What did he have? What were his symptoms?”

When she hemmed and hawed around with her answer, I started to smell a rat, or at the very minimum I smelled a story. Something more interesting than a kid getting sick at school – I mean, that happens every day, right? It’s not exactly headline news.

“Remember I told you he was acting like such a PERV the other day?” She said.

“Telling other boys that he could see all the girls’ bras through their white uniform blouses?” I said, mom antennae nervously on the rise.  Yes, I remembered that.

“Yeah!” She answered.

A group of girls in their class decided that the “pervy” behavior of the boys in their class needed to be dealt with swiftly and surely. There was no time for pesky parental or teacher intervention . They would take matters into their own hands the very next day by making an example of Chandler.

Sure enough, the next morning, one of the girls brought a brand new unused spool of white satin ribbon and a pair of scissors from her mother’s sewing kit and rallied several of the other girls outside of their classroom before school for a ribbon cutting ceremony of sorts. They cut lengths of ribbon, tied them around their forearms and called them “purity bands.” They spent the rest of the day smugly impressed with their own homespun brand of sisterhood-inspired solidarity.

The original explanation that spread like wildfire throughout the school, was that the armbands were a sign of the girls, “not wanting remarks and undue attention called to their undergarments.” (Bravo ladies – very discreet!) But, like all things 5th grade-related, it morphed, and by 3rd hour, kids were whispering that every girl wearing a white ribbon, “Hated Chandler!”

Needless to say, it was all more than young Chandler was equipped to handle. A genuinely kindhearted kid, he could barely make it through his next class, and ended up in the Principal’s office until his mother could arrive to rescue him from the throes of vigilante justice.

Like an experienced priest in a confessional, I pulled the entire tale out of my daughter before we made it home. I was stunned and in disbelief, trying to decide the exact right course of action. There was not a doubt in my mind that I had a phone call to make and that my daughter had some serious amends to make.  

I was just sick when I looked in my rear view mirror at my own two innocent little boys in the backseat, just a few short years away from making their own ill-advised, pre-pubescent “bra remark” as Chandler had, only to pay a price excessively dear.

I called Chandler’s mother and told her the story verbatim as I learned it from my daughter. (Well…maybe I left out the word, “PERV!”) The most important points seemed to be that:

-the girls should not have done what they did
-the girls did not dislike Chandler, just his remarks
-my daughter would be publicly apologizing to Chandler for her part and setting an example for her cohorts to do the same

In addition to acknowledging the snowball effect of her and her friends’ actions, another thing I wanted my daughter to understand, was that her younger brothers, will undoubtedly  “step in it” at some point down the road. Will she be comfortable with any level of disciplinary action meted out and deemed appropriate by a jury of their female peers? Something to think about…she sure adores those younger brothers.

We required our daughter to apologize to Chandler. Her friends followed suit. Chandler apologized for his behavior as well. The entire episode blew over (as they always seem to do) after a few days.

Today all the kids involved are happy, healthy young adults who learned valuable life lessons when they were young. They love God, family, friends and are loved in return. With a modicum of awareness, parents can seize and actually embrace life’s “teachable moments” to help their children grow into the kind and compassionate human beings they are truly meant to be.

For my part, I am determined that, feminist or not, some things have to get nipped in the bud.