Been there, felt your pain! lol I am a teacher myself, and I raised two boys, so I've been on both sides of the conference table. Just choose your battles, praise effort and progress and try to keep your perspective. Easier said than done I know.
I'll never forget my oldest boy's first parent conference. I was only in my second year of teaching, and I thought I had done a great job preparing him.
Unfortunately, I left the conference feeling like a failure because he couldn't use scissors, and he was coloring outside the lines. I cried on the car trip home. I also had to tell my husband that they wanted to test him for special ed. I was devastated.
The next day he went up to school and spoke to her. It turned out that the teacher thought he had a learning disability because he didn't know what an iron was!
Might that have been because I don't IRON anything?? LMAO!! The poor child had never seen one! I also encouraged him to color his own pictures, so he had never seen paper with lines to follow (like a coloring book). He had also given the cat a trim with our scissors, so he was not allowed to use them after that.
How was I to know that I had RUINED his chances for a quality education??
NOT....he graduated in the top 10%, was student council president, and was in honors classes.
All I can say is....don't sweat the small stuff. It will all work out.
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The fullness of our heart is expressed in our eyes, in our touch, in what we write, in what we say, in the way we walk, the way we receive, the way we need. -Mother Teresa (
RIP Gizmo 3/9/07-8/18/12)
