Monday, June 14, 2010

Parent-Teacher Conference

It was an excruciating wait.

From the time we received the e-mail from Jay’s teacher, to inform us of the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conference.

One month ago. One month of wondering and pondering. One month of waiting with anticipation and trepidation.

It’s not so much learning how your kid did at school. It’s whether or not we as parents taught him well. Did we do a good job? Have we screwed up too much? Is the damage reversible? Normal questions like that.

I don’t think my parents ever went to any such Parent-Teacher Conference when I was a kid. No one judged them then. Oh, but parents of today… Gosh. It’s like being hauled into the principal’s office about some unacceptable behaviour.

At 8.29 a.m. on last Saturday, Nic & I dutifully entered the gates of Little Big. Left Jayvon at home, just as the teacher had asked (cos it wouldn’t be convenient talking about him in front of him). Or talking bad about our parenting skills in front of the test subject.

Miss Yun tried to make us feel at ease. Served drinks and all. Sat down beside the computer and Miss Yun started talking. Cue the nervousness and shallow breathing. I don’t think I do very well in such situations. It may be initial nerves, but I think after a few more of such PTCs I’d probably be a pro. I think. I hope. Doesn’t bode well for my “super-mom” persona to be perspiring at a PTC, ya know.

Miss Yun obviously took the effort in preparing for this meeting. Photographs of Jay in action, interacting with his friends, and how he was in class. She even brought up the Mother’s Day gift, which he singlehandedly designed, proudly telling the teacher that “Mommy like pink circles” before selecting the circles for my card and decided that the “giant cookie” is for me, and the “small cookies” are for himself.

And how Jay would, in a typical boy fashion, get into scuffles with his two good friends in class, Nicolas and Angelo (resulting in some small scratches and injuries from time to time). Daddy was cool (too cool, if you ask me) about that, and said he’d be more concerned if Jay didn’t get into fights.

The only area Miss Yun pointed out was in his shyness when it came to strangers. He would find it hard to enter into a play situation with kids he is unfamiliar with, and so this is an aspect to work on.

One area of relief… after all my fussing about learning Mandarin, and Jay’s underexposure to this language from young, we were pleasantly surprised (ok, shell-shocked might be the better adjective) when the Chinese teacher told us that Jay has picked up the language fast, and able to say short Chinese phrases like “谢谢老师”(thank you, teacher) and "我还要饼干.” (I’d like to have more biscuits.) Oh. My. Goodness. Nic & I stared at each other incredulously when we heard that. You mean he can?!? Our Jayvon? That is when I know for sure, God is gracious towards us. Haha!

All in all, it was a fun session. Learnt a lot more about Jay, and also allowed the teacher to know a lot more about us and our parenting style (relaxed is still a style, you know…).

We took back some of Jay’s artpieces from school, and he was so thrilled to see them when we got back home!

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Each artpiece had a small explanation on what was the lesson being taught, as well as personal anecdotes on the child’s behaviour! It was so fun to read!

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4 comments:

龙哥 said...

so so cool!!! i await the times i'd 'bribe' you for tips over dinner or something.. Teehee!

KellyQueenie said...

**foot print**
Can't wait to see my niece drawing..!!
Nanged and clicked on your adv.!
DO visit mine.!
Cya around..! Thanks... :)

Nina Nurziana said...

nanged and followed ;)

Unknown said...

@Kelicious & @Nina: Thanks for the nangs! ;) Hope to see you around soon too!