Sociology 103

A role conflict is a situation in which incapable role demands are placed on a person by

two or more statuses held at the same time.

On Tuesday's from 2 pm from 3 :15 pm my role is a sociology student. But this particular Tuesday when my cellphone rang at 1:55 and the boys' school number appeared I was immediately thrown into a role conflict. Two of the statuses I hold, one being a student and one being a mom, were requiring my attention. Mom being my master status I answered the phone. And the story begins.........

At 8:30 that morning my two boys kissed me good bye, grabbed their backpacks and ran off to catch the bus. The bus arrived and they stood single file as one kid after another stepped on and walked to a seat. My boys and 3 of their friends sat at the very back of the bus and headed on their very small journey to school. On this particular morning though they (they meaning all 5 or 6 little boys in the back) decided it would be a good idea to flip the bird to the cars behind them. Yup those sweet little boys who only moments ago were kissing and hugging me good bye were instantly transformed into little shitheads at the "Back of the Bus" when that bus turned off our block. Kinda funny I know, it gets better. Being that these "oh so bad boys" are only between 6 and 9 none of them understood the importance of picking their audience. So the older woman who was driving behind them who had the pleasure of 5 little middle fingers facing in her direction first thing in the morning followed that bus to school!!

It is 2007 folks and yes we have cameras on our buses. So the guilty are guilty! Flash forward to after lunch, one by one the boys get called to the principals office for a talking to and a call home. So my phone rings... It's the principal and he has The Monkey in his office. He tells me that when my little Monkey walked into his office the first thing out of his mouth was "I didn't stick my middle finger up!" lol before he was even told why he was there. The principal shared with me what happened , I told the Monkey I was unhappy and we'd talk about it after school. Then something funny happened again. The principal tells me he's not going to pull the Bear into his office because he is younger and was probably just copying the older kids. Well he clearly does not know that little boy at all! But I say thank you knowing I can handle it later and I'm late for class.

The bus pulls up at roughly 3:45, I was waiting. :) The Monkey lingers in the back trying to be the last kid off the bus, he knows he's in trouble. My little Bear on the other hand had no idea I knew, so he hops off the bus without a care in the world. I stop him dead in his tracts and say..."You have no reason to be smiling today sir." He quickly responds with "Oh man mom! You know!?!" lol We went home, I grounded them, and I enjoyed a nice quiet kid free evening. Most of which I spent on the phone telling everyone this funny little story.

Yes boys that's right, if you ever read this, and remember this occasion I wasn't mad at all. Not much anyway. I thought it funny and almost somewhat normal. Obviously I couldn't let you know I found this incident more comical than concerning, but I did. It's your job as kids to do stuff like flip the bird to the cars behind you, unfortunately it's my job as your mom to teach you not to do it again. I love you guys! Thank you for never leaving me short for good stories to share.