Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Parent-Teacher Conference

Every night I think, "I should update my blog". Funny things happen, sweet things are said, kids make me laugh, and then FINALLY the baby is put in bed (for the fourth and FINAL time) and I head to my room. On the left is my bed and straight ahead is my desk. (Gavin is usually in dream land by now...which he deserves, seeing as he works on east coast time, so his morning usually begins when I am still in the land of Nod).
So...As much as I would love to share all the highlights, and low lights of the day, I find my bed calling to me and so it is there that I collapse and tell my computer that it will have to wait. And then they are forgotten...Oh, my wretched mind! That I could recall it all, never forget a moment, THAT would be heaven!
There have been Parent-Teacher conferences this week.
For grade school- I get it...
You want your kid to be smart, follow the rules, etc... But for pre-school,
give me a break.
I Really thought about ditching out. But I didn't want the teachers to think that I was a complete derelict mother. So I went. Now, Shelby used to attend a rather strict academic pre-school, and then this year I did an about-face, decided that life is short, and pre-school should be fun. So now she is at this Creative Arts Pre-School which is the total opposite of what she had last year. They wear their tutu's to school, finger paint, sing and dance.
Only problem, is that they take all this stuff almost as serious as the old school took math and reading. I mean REALLY,
"IS there a wrong way to finger paint?"
Question: So, WHAT is the point of Parent-Teacher conferences???
Answer: To scare the living daylights out of the parents? ...Because THAT is exactly what it accomplishes!
So, Miss Mimi says to me that in Creative Movement Class ALL the kids were told that they were to pretend to be
seeds,
and then they started to grow and finally they turned in to
pumpkins.
But Shelby stayed a seed...
for the entire class.
Well, I get that.
I mean a pumpkin doesn't really sound like something that a four year old aspires to turn in to.
A seed is cute
and a pumpkin is big and orange AND doesn't have
  1. wings,
  2. sparkles,
  3. or really ANY redeeming features.

Why on earth should she want to turn in to THAT?!

But I am panicking.
"My little seed doesn't want to bloom,
doesn't want to sprout...
what if she never grows!?"
***
The teacher tells me that sometimes Shelby is very quiet. ..Like at show-and-tell, when Shelby brings her toy horses, EVERY week, and Miss Mimi asks her to tell the class about them.
But Shelby just holds them in front of her face and smiles.
Should I worry about this?
I mean maybe she is thinking "What is there that I can say? These horses speak for themselves. They are breathtaking."
Or maybe she just doesn't feel like talking.
***
Miss Misha (the Art teacher) says that she is a good artist, and is "getting the hang of using scissors".
Yeah...not too worried about that skill,
I think it must be all the practice on
**her hair!! **
(Pretty sure she knows how to work a pair of scissors!!)
***
Miss Julie (her music teacher) tells me that Shelby is having a little trouble copying her when she asks Shelby to repeat the notes that she just sang.
"AHHH, ahhh" (she SINGS me an example).
I think that she wanted me to sing it the same way to make sure that there was not some genetic factor at play.... But I was not about to belt out anything.
My voice is not something that I am keen to show off. Especially in front of all the other mothers. She asked me if I sang at home.
"Well... I don't really sing a lot.
I mean we have a lot of music playing, and there is a lot of dancing.
But I don't really sing the words."
"Well. maybe you could start."
What I didn't tell her was that every time I sing to Shelby, Shelby says (very politely) "Mom, can you puhlease STOP doing that?"
Like I am picking my nose.
And so I do stop.
I mean... she asks nicely, And I don't want her to have nightmares about the sound of my voice.
So I tell Miss Julie... "I don't have a good voice."
"That's OK, sing anyways."
So, last night, as I am putting Shelby to bed, I nervously start singing, very quietly.
"Mom" she whispers, "Uhm, can you please stop doing that."
"Shelby, your teacher told me that I need to sing to you."
She looks perplexed.... "Oh, OK."
And so I do.
I sing "Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens..."
(It's from the sound of music, and it's one of her favorite songs.)
And for the second verse I switch it up..
"Pegasus Unicorns with sparkling wiiiiings, gorgeous cats with pink diamond riiiings, these are a few of my fav-o-rite thiiings..."
"Mom (pause)...can you sing that again? (smile)"
So, maybe there is something to pre-school Parent-Teacher conference...who would have thought?

5 comments:

Olive said...

That is ingenious! I would have liked to see that. Yes well the teachers at Virginia Tanner are bit strict in the art department...But i must agree...A PUMPKIN? they certainly are shapeless and not at all fun unless you are eating them in a soup or carving them. They just DONT know how important those toy horses are! Ive personally loved toy horses all my life and never owned enough when i was little. They ARE charming and i actually had to restrain myself from stealing them from your house :) just kidding seriously that would be grounds for me being fired. haha
Just let Shelby be who she is! Cause shes awesome! thats all im gonna say....i should stop rambling on your comment page....theyre supposed to be comments not essays.....sorry....bye

Kierra said...

I love your sense of humor! Its so funny how serious people can be with things that aren't so devastatingly important. But its nice that you were able to create your own little moment with your daughter, and open the door for many more of those experiences, even if you have to force her to listen to you sing! : )

karen said...

Hey Ash. Sus was visiting this weekend and we chuckled ourselves well into the night about this post. Come to think of it, I've never heard you sing. Can't be that bad, can it? My kids always "shush" me when I start singing, and they do it to Marc, too. (especially Jackson) but Marc will just sing louder (and even more off-tune) until Jackson is practically in tears. That'll come out in therapy later, I'm sure.

Jared and Delia said...

That was a cute post. You are such a creative mom.

The Sandy Bottom Crew said...

that is hilarious! At my sons preschool they have parent teacher conference too and i never go! They are too young and perfect to be judged like that!