Since last week, I have a knot in my tummy.  I got a phone call from Jack’s teacher giving me an appointment for 5.10pm tomorrow.  Fortunately, she rang all parents to give them an appointment at a different time.  It wasn’t just for my son.  This is the first Parent/teacher meeting of this year.

Since Jack started school (3 years ago) I must say that all his teachers have been very positive about him and gave him praises which was very encouraging.  But this was Infant School.  He is now at Juniors and has now homework to do (although the homework are more of an artistic challenge for mummy and daddy…especially mummy!!)
The other day, as we were walking back home after school I asked him ‘Did you get any merit today?’ He tells me no and suddenly his little face falls and he says ‘I had a yellow card though’ (given for bad behaviour).  Ashamed he lowered his head and avoided looking at me.  It broke my heart but worried I asked him why he got a yellow card.  And he says ‘The teacher shouted at me but I wasn’t doing anything!’.  If there is one thing certain about Jack is that he cannot lie.  It’s physically impossible for him to tell a lie so if he says he didn’t do anything, I believe him!
So the day after, I went to see his teacher quickly before school starts and asked her why she gave a yellow card to Jack (don’t get me wrong, I was polite and acting as a worried mother … not a pushy mum who wont believe her son can misbehave…cause I know he can!). She told me that Jack was making noise with his chair and reassured me that Yellow Cards were given really quickly as a warning…nothing more.  Still… what a bitch!!!  I mean did she have to shout at him just because he was making noise with his chair.  Jack is always in his own little world and often does not realise what he is doing.  He obviously didn’t even know he was making noise!  There are other ways to tell a child to stop making noise without having to shout at him, in front of the whole class and make them feel ashamed in front of their peers…. WHAT A STUPID BITCH!  I left the class and thought…well, I really don’t like her!  She has the same colour hair as mine but that’s all that’s nice about her.  She is young but looks straight and strict.  She has a piercing on her tongue which I think is totally out of order as it gives her a lisp and as a teacher she should know better!  WHAT A HORRIBLE BITCH!
Compared to Jack’s teacher last year, this is like night and day.  Michelle (last year’s teacher) was absolutely fantastic with Jack.  And now that she is teaching Tom I am over the moon.  And I got to know her quite well over the last two years so we are now on a friend level… we had a real good laugh last Friday during the preparation of the Halloween Disco at school.  I like this kinda relationship with teacher.  Very approachable.  You can talk to them anytime, they always welcome you.

Anyway… tomorrow I am gonna have 10 minutes with that new teacher and she is gonna tell me what she thinks of my son.  What if she tells me he is not very good and wont achieve much in life…. What am I gonna do.  How am I gonna cope!!!  I can’t bare it!

I had a thought today about when it was me who was at school and my mother who had to go to the parent/teacher meetings.  Only to be told I had lots of potential but was not exploring them fully and therefore was only half as good as what I should be.  What a disappointment it must have been for my mother.  Poor mum… having to go through the humiliation of being told ‘Your daughter is a lazy cow who wont succeed in life.  She will be lucky if she gets a job at the local supermarket stacking shelves’ (no disrespect to the shelves stackers!).  How ashamed my mum must have felt about being told she failed me cause I didn’t study hard enough.
Of course I do not hold her responsible at all about me not working hard enough at school.  This was entirely my fault.  My mum was the best mum I could have wished for.  Everybody’s got their fault, she has hers, but she certainly did not fail me with my education.  In fact, my mum and dad paid for me to go to Public school for three years and after that I got good A levels (it was a miracle… believe me!!)
So I am taking this opportunity to say sorry to my mum.  I am sorry Mum for making you go to Parent teacher meetings that must have been very uncomfortable for you.  If you knew then, what I know now… I would have worked much harder!

Still got this knot in my stomach.  I’ll let you know what the teacher says tomorrow.

Mey
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