I've wanted to upload this story sooner than today, but our oldest cat has been sick and after a trip to the vet yesterday it was determined she needs dental surgery. So it's gonna be a fun next couple weeks up in here.
*The name of the main character in the story below has been changed to protect his privacy and dignity.
Although I was in kindergarten more than 30 years ago, I still very vividly remember this next story. My class was small and one of the kids in my class was named *Fredrick.
On the outside, there wasn't anything extraordinary about Fredrick, but while we were in kindergarten he was going through an interesting developmental phase.....
He bit people.
Specifically me.
I can't recall if I was his only victim or if he had others on his munchy list, but I do remember several instances where my arm and his teeth connected. Of course, I told my teacher about this and she made sure that we no longer sat next to each other.
But Fredrick still found a way. I remember one day in particular when I was several kids away from him in the reading circle. Unfortunately, I was sitting next to one of his criminal associates (no doubt part of some sort of kindergarten mafia) and they grabbed my arm at one point and stretched it out so that it would make easy contact with his teeth.
This incident prompted a call to Fredrick's parents and a few days later I got a letter in the mail (this was way before email was a thing) along with a small stuffed bear. The letter was a formal apology from Fredrick.
The biting stopped after this letter was sent. I found out later that in addition to the apology letter/teddy bear, Fredrick's mom took him to the library (back in the day these were building where you could go and take out books to read for free) and had him look up the word "cannibalism."
I've since tasked mom's I'm living vicariously through to do this if their little one has a biting phase. :-P
Fast forward 10 years. I was going to a high school that had weekly assemblies. These assemblies had assigned seating that would change every semester. My senior year I looked at the new assembly seating chart and who was I assigned to sit by?
FREDRICK!
I guess this is what happens when you live in a small town and need to fill an assembly hall with assigned seating.
Thankfully, Fredrick kept his teeth to himself during the semester and I emerged bite free at graduation.
So take heart, parents of tiny cannibals, most likely your child will grow out of craving human flesh.
And if not, at least he'll become an awesome apology note writer. ;-)