Friday was school report day. The nine year old comes out of school and I have to ask if he's got his report. I must admit by the time we get home I've forgotten and I'm thinking of cooking dinner. So its not until we are sitting at the table eating that it starts getting read.
To start, attendance is 97.8% I don't think that's bad at all but I'm pretty sure they include days out of our control, snow days and strike days. As it has been every year with nine year olds report, spot on. He's sociable, kind, sensitive and inquisitive but is easily distracted and loses concentration (he has mild ADHD). He hits his targets but everything is satisfactory according to his teacher. He makes no effort and will get by on the minimum he needs to do. Fair enough, I know this.
But what about all these parents posting on Facebook about their wunderkind? "So and so's excellent report" "miles ahead of their reading age" "my child is a prodigy among us". Facebook of course is the place where parents who are " friends" do the oneupmanship. It's the equivalent of some baby & toddler groups all parents have been to at some point.
I'm proud of nine year olds achievements. Literacy hadn't come easily to him but he plods on, he's earned his pen licence and is doing well in maths. The personal statement from his teacher highlighting his many wonderful character traits is what makes it all worthwhile and tells me my son is better than average.
Urgh I hate those kind of status updates on Facebook! Sometimes you just want to shove some people down a hole! :-) I completely agree with you - every child is different and what is an achievement for one child is not going to compare to someone else's utter brilliance but it is their own little bit of brilliance! I recently mentioned something about my four year old's sociability and how proud I am of him despite the fact that I'm pretty sure he isn't going to be a surefire whizz at the academics - but it depends what you put value on really isn't it? And I see wonderful character traits as equally important and brilliant as academic qualifications. X
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