I have my regular, end of tri-mester, parent-teacher meeting with my 4 year old's pre-K teacher tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it. Last week T said, out of the blue, "I'm tired of my nonsense." Cue alarm bells in my head. I said, "what nonsense, what are you talking about?" And he said "I use too much glue, I scribble-scrabble, and I don't pay attention." He said this in a very quiet voice with his face buried in an arm-chair.
So of course I have to bring this up. I actually like his teacher; in my brief encounters with her, she has seemed smart and funny with an appreciation for irony. I just think she tends to get too impatient with the kids, and that there are too many in the class (30, with one other teacher helping). She has been teaching for 17 years. You'd think that if there was any chance that would get the concept that it's better to say things like "this would work better if you used less glue" instead of "You use to much glue", she would already be putting that philosophy into practice, and my son wouldn't feel he was doomed to a life time of pasting-incompetence (he *always* takes everything literally and deadly seriously). To say nothing of believing he's incapable of paying attention, which is really and truly alarming. But of course I have to try.
I told my sister this, and she said immediately, "pull him out of school". I don't really want to though. T is a very clingy and needy child, and I really think he needs all the practice being away from me that he can get. We are very socially isolated despite living in the middle of a big city, so school is the only place he regularly sees other kids. He doesn't seem to have made any particular friends, but I think he likes the order and stability of the school routine. Plus, having him gone for 2 1/2 hours every morning has done wonders for my sanity.
Oh, and he does really suck at coloring. We hardly every do it at home because his 3yo brother (who may or may not have special needs) eats crayons. Also I don't really blame T for not being enthusiastic about coloring a photocopied shamrock green (and I'd be willing to bet that green was the only color handed out).
Wish us luck, mamas.