Problem Solving?

Abbie has been quite the little problem solver lately, devising ways to get around the rules at school. Chad and I couldn't be more proud. We both seem to feel the need to rebel against rules and find loopholes, so the fact that Abbie is getting creative with rules at school just really entertains us. These are the two recent incidents:

First, Abbie wanted pie at lunch but was told by her teacher that she couldn't have it because it is only part of the hot lunch, which she was not buying that day. When she got to the register, she asked the lunch lady if "there was anything she could do about this problem." The lunch lady said she would see what she could do. A few minutes later she brought a piece of pie over to Abbie's seat. Of course, this got Abbie into trouble with her teacher because Abbie, uncertain of whether she was going to get pie or not, had already selected a different dessert to have with her lunch. Apparently the teacher wasn't too happy when Abbie ended up with two desserts. Chad talked to the teacher about how really Abbie was just displaying creative problem solving skills. Not sure that the teacher agreed with this one.

Second, Abbie has been eating like crazy lately and is always hungry (probably a growth spurt). To accommodate this, I have started sending extra afternoon snacks to school with her. The teacher told her that she is only allowed to eat one snack at snack time, not two. So, Abbie has been stuck trying to balance her hunger with the arbitrary one snack rule. Yesterday, she said to me, "I don't want to have to worry about this, so I'm going to open up two applesauces and put them into one bowl. Then, when I eat my applesauce for snack my teacher will think it is just one snack. She won't know that it is really two." Pretty funny.

Of course, the bigger issue here is to understand why there are all these crazy rules to begin with. Whenever Abbie tells me about a new rule, I always ask her about the reason behind it and she never knows. For example, is the one snack rule because snack time is short and eating more than one snack takes too long? Abbie doesn't know. My hope is that as Abbie continues her rule-subverting behavior she also develops some rule-questioning behavior. Yes, we may be creating a bit of a trouble maker if we're not careful, but I really do think that these are good skills to have as an adult and no time like the present to start practicing. :)