A Proud Mom Moment
November 10, 2009 by Kimberly · 5 Comments
My emotions don’t always align with my thoughts…
Yesterday was report card day for NYC public school students. I started off the day amazed that I felt no pressure regarding WHATEVER Michael’s report card would say. (I’m not a big fan of full day Kindergarten. I would rather that kids had more playtime than academic time during their early years. I don’t like evaluating kids at such young ages. Etc., Etc.,)
So WHY did my heart leap and a big old goofy smile get plastered on my face when I read this…
(Click to enlarge)
What can I say? I’m a mom. By definition, my emotions are caught up with my kids’ failures and successes. Having said that, I tried to “play off” my delight. “I’m glad that you did your best,” I calmly told my son. (He is naturally a perfectionist-tending competitor, so I definitely do not want to promote being performance-oriented.) On that note, this will be the first/last time that I post my kid’s report card publicly.
Meanwhile, how do you reward your kids for doing well without causing them to be (overly) performance-oriented? I’m not sure if I want to get Michael something special for getting a good report card or not. That might be sending out mixed messages…
Congrats on Michael’s success!! You seem like such a great mom. I am sure he will continue to do well.
My youngest son is the only one of 5 who attended kindergarten. I homeschooled the others for K. Some children are very performance driven, but not all. Some do not need to be pushed because they push themselves so hard; others need parental training wheels throughout their eduation. Congrats on a well-done report card. BTW, it infuriates me that the DEA wants to make pre-k mandatory! Give me a break!
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Congratulations!!! I know it’s a great feeling to read something like that about your child. I am anxiously awaiting my first grader’s report card this Friday! It will be the first one with actual number grades
I do reward my child when she does well in school. We do not reward her all the time of course. It’s not usually a toy, but more of an experience like going for dinner at her favorite restaraunt, or just doing something fun and making it her day.
Awe! Congrats to you and Michael… Teaching begins at home and we all know you have taught Michael alot..
Congrats to both you and Michael! It’s so important to foster the love of learning, and it begins at home. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with being performance driven. Children (and adult) like to be praised when a job is well done. That doesn’t necessarily translate to a materalistic reward such as a toy. A simple “good job, great kid” will do too. My problem is not about how to reward my kids, but how to teach them to cope with failures. My daughter (1st grade) is so super performance driven, and she takes failures personally. In some ways, I’m glad that she is not a sore loser, she never blames others. For example, when she lost her last chess tournament, she didn’t said it wasn’t a fair game, rather, she came out crying, said she wasn’t “smart enough.” I know she tried her best (her coach verified that, and actually deliberately place her against 2nd grader chess opponent), so she still got a praise from me.