The Unwritten, Byzantine Rules of 3rd Grade Lunch Room

Last Friday Michael took Suzanne to see Coraline, and although they are just friends, he was very excited. The best part of the evening was how he skipped back to the car after dropping her off at her doorstep. He insisted on picking up and dropping her off alone, which pleased me. The whole exercise is to make ensure that he feels comfortable around girls and not become one of the boys who line the gym walls at dances, too intimidated to engage with the fairer sex.

Alex tends to take his cues from his big brother and seems to have learned that it is all right to talk to girls, even if you must circumvent the unwritten, byzantine rules of 3rd grade lunch room. Alex wanted to have lunch with Michelle, but there are only self regulated boy only and girl only tables; a mingling of the existing table would be tantamount to walking away from a double dog dare. Not one to be intimidated by the way things are, Alex found an empty table and made it a new table, one that was boy girl, and had lunch with a friend.

RAP (2.12.2009)