Tonight my 5th grade Girl Scouts sang at the lighting of the city's christmas tree... something we have done for 4 years. But since our troop is smaller than in previous years we invited the other 2 5th grade GS troops at our school to join us. It went well, the girls did great and my dds and I left right after. During dinner I get a phone call from a mom of a GS from the other troop. She says that her dd told her that I grabbed her and when she asked me to let her go I refused. Now I am not a push over as a leader... if the girls are misbehaving I will call them on it but I never get physical. But nothing happened at the tree lighting ceremony. At practice I separated 2 girls from my own troop because they were goofing off but not by physical means. The only thing I can think of from tonight is that I herded (as in "let's move along") some girls to where they should be standing...
This mom describes me to a "T" ... tells me what her dd says. Told her "no" I didn't do this... I would certainly remember "grabbing" a child which is something i would not do anyway. She puts me on speaker phone while we are talking and informs me that her dd has identified my voice as being the one. She goes on to say that she will not stand for anyone touching her daughter or "scolding" her... and as a leader I should not be doing this. I told her that I agreed that no one should grab a child and that I certainly would remember doing so. She then said I sounded just like Clinton claiming not to remember. I went on to say that I didn't know what else to say... I am saying one thing and her daughter is saying another. She said she plans on talking to the other moms that were there and intends to take this to our Council. And she left our conversation by sayig that when we see each other at school functions she expects me to "act appropriately".
I was so upset... I called my co-leader and she told me to call our GS school co-ordinator (who thankfully was there tonite and who's dd is in the same troop as this other girl). Apparently the mom goes beserk over every little detail and if something is wrong it is always someone else's fault. She has made many complaints to our co0-ordinator, our school and to council. So I was informed by a few people tonight to let it go... that it is just how this woman is... but this is my character being called into question... and how do I defend myself against the word of an 8 year old (this girl should be in 3rd grade but the mom had her pushed ahead two grades). I have spent most of the night crying, my kids are upset because even though I tried hiding it from them I apparently didn't do a very good job and had to explain the situation to them. My dh is out of town and I feel crappy and alone even though I have support from others who were there tonight. I wold like to do as everyone says and let it go but this is my name being associated with hurting a child. How can you just let that go?
Tonight just sucks!