The King and Queen of Drama

A coworker and friend of mine just started her little boy at my kids' day care. She actually had her older son there first, and recommended the place to me when I was pregnant with baby girl, so she knows all the teachers already.

She came by yesterday to chat about how the first couple of days back at work have been for her. She always lets me know when she sees little man when she's there visiting her son and often gives me little updates on what he was doing. One time he was irate because one of the other boys had done something or other to him. We laughed about how he and that baby don't really get along. Well, yesterday she told me he had been playing quite happily with the other boy.

"Oh, good!" I said. "No drama." And I smiled. Because I am the first to admit my kids are, well, dramatic.

"I know!" she exclaimed. "Ms. Teacher told me they don't even call him by his name. They just call him 'Drama King' and everyone knows who they're talking about. She said they don't call his sister by name, either. They just say, 'Drama Queen' and everyone knows who they're talking about."

I smiled through all this. Laughed at the end of it. But inside my stomach shrank to an ice cube.

The teachers at my kids' school call them the "Drama King" and "Drama Queen"? They don't even refer to them by name anymore?

My initial reaction to this was indignation. Aside from the fact that this teacher is talking about my kids with another parent, they don't even refer to them by name anymore . . . they just call them "Drama King" and "Drama Queen."

Indignation and anger.

But then, there was a little voice in my head that said . . . "so what?"

Yes, my kids are dramatic. But you know what that means? That means that they are passionate and expressive. That means that they are confident enough to stand up for themselves when they feel they've been wronged.

Do I really want to raise children who are passive and meek, children who quietly follow others because they lack the guts to blaze their own trails?

Hell no.

If I could pick attributes for my adult children to have, passion would certainly be near the top of the list. To raise a child who is passionate, who thinks for him or herself, who is strong enough to stand up for him/herself, who isn't afraid of expressing him/herself . . . if I can do that then I know I'll have been a successful parent, will have set my children up as best as I could for success.

Strength.   Passion.   Expressiveness.   Confidence.   Spirit. 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

So go ahead. Call my kids Drama Royalty.

I'm damned proud of them for it.