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…