Tutor Me!

When you have children, especially children like Atley, you get a little nervous when you get phone calls that begin with, "I would like to talk to you about your son!" I received one of those calls last week. The woman on the other end informed me that her children rode the bus with Atley. I thought, "GREAT! What did he do this time?" She asked if I was aware that her daughter sat with Atley each day on the bus ride home. I thought, "No, of course I was not aware. Frankly, I have no idea what my kid does when he is not at home, and sometimes I am not even sure what the heck he is doing here." Her daughter, who happens to be a 5th grader, was hoping that she could help Atley with his problem. I thought, "I wonder which problem she is referring too! Oh no, could it be a problem I didn't even know he had." She continued to explain how her little girl wanted to be a teacher when she grew up and how much fun she was having reading to Atley each day. I thought, "That's so sweet of her, but let's get to this problem!" In as tactful a manner as anyone could relate the illiteracy of a complete stranger's child, she told me how Atley had confessed to her daughter that he did not know how to read. In fact, he was the only one in his class that didn't know how to read. Apparently, the story was so convincing that her sweet little girl felt compelled to somehow help him. I thought, "Oh, that problem-THE LYING/WOMANIZING/LAZY PROBLEM!" You see Atley reads very well. He just doesn't like to do it. Somehow he convinced this little girl, who just so happens to be super-cute, that he desperately needed her help. What could I say! Atley now has a reading tutor that Nash also gets along with quite well. Their first session was Saturday. The tutor was thoroughly convinced that she was a magnificent teacher, when at the end of lesson one, Atley had already progressed to chapter books!