That baby got big real fast.

Wow. On Wednesday, I took baby steps toward confronting conflict. I was rather proud of myself.

On Thursday, I took my fourth graders on a field trip, and one of the chaperones chose inappropriate words to use in front of the children, and made an extremely inappropriate comment. One of the parents brought it to my attention, and I took the steps necessary to diffuse the situation, without confronting the real conflict, because I didn't really know how. Do I confront the chaperone? And demand what? I simply made sure she will not be going on a field trip anytime...ever...with our school. Problem over.

Until I was perusing the aisles at Target today, and my phone rings. Sure enough, it's Chaperone calling me, which I didn't know until I answered. She said, "J said you were really mad at me, and I wanted to know why and what happened."

Oh, hello again Conflict. I thought you'd stay away for more than two days. Apparently I was wrong.

I could have simply breezed over it, but I chose not to.

"Well, I'm not mad at you. I simply have some concerns about a few things you said on the field trip. I was told you said a few curse words, and one of the comments you made to one of the girls made her uncomfortable. Her mother is upset as well."

Simple facts. It seemed like the best solution. The only solution. Chaperone asked if she should call the mother of the student, and I told her that would be a good idea and how to find her number. Chaperone asked me about one other rumor circulating about her, and I told her truthfully that I knew nothing about it.

And then, I programmed her number in my phone under the name "Do Not Answer."