MY KIDS FIRST EVER PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE

OK. Can we millennials just take a moment and recognize our PTSD from when we knew our parents were on the way back home from our Parent Teacher Conference. I can remember the horror I felt when I heard the turn of the key as my mom walked in with her iconic look of “oh boy, you f***ked up.” JESUS how did we ever survive the 90’s? OK moment is up, now on to my experience..

I was feeling so excited the entire week leading up to this day. This was my first ever PTC and I could not wait to speak to my kids teachers about their growth, behaviors, and all the little quirks that my children have. However, as I am driving to their school, I couldnt help but wonder; what if my kid said “shit” in class? I would be mortified if i were to ever get that bit of information from my kids teachers. Or what if they tell me my two year old son decided to take his whole uniform off and ran naked in class? Panic began to set HARD. We went to my son Dominics class first: they began the meeting with all the progress he is making in class and that they have seen great growth in him. However, since he began school, he has started to push and sometimes even hit his classmates, even at home he has been hitting his sister and us a lot. We told the teachers that he never use to hit, push or shove anyone until he started school. They agreed. They mentioned that he started recently and learned it from his classmates. I thought to myself “great… not even two months in and my son is apparently Mike Tyson.” They gave us tools to use at home if and when he decides to raise his hand on his sister or any of us. One of the things we already do is when he does throw hands like a street fighter and smacks his sister, we gently tell him that what he did is very wrong and that he needs to apologize to his sister. He ends up apologizing and hugging his sister so that seems to work. What threw us for a complete loop is that apparently, our son is a major HO. YUP! My son, has all the female teachers wrapped around his tiny little finger. We already knew the staff loves him, we can tell during drop off and pick up. We did not know that he goes class hopping to say hi and hug the teachers. They literally melt for him. He also may or may not have a girlfriend in the class that he talks about all the time. Other than the hitting, he seems to be progressing right along.

Afterward, we sat down with my daughters teachers who tells us that she is also doing great. However, they did tell us that she has been very emotional. The slightest inconvenience and she will start crying. Arianna is a very vocal child, she is not afraid to let you know how she is feeling. Sometimes, those feelings manifest into tantrums and tears. I have been reading online that it is a phase, and it is extremely common that between the ages 3-4, kids will over-react to the slightest inconvenience. At home, when we don’t give her what she wants all the time the moment she wants it, she falls apart. We let her have her tantrum and she is over it fairly quickly. We never feed into everything she wants, we ain’t raising no spoiled brats. When she starts to have very big feelings for things like bedtime, bath-time, or dealing with the tragedy of having her toys taken by her little brother, her teachers suggested us to get down on her level and calm her down with love, kisses and hugs. My daughters love-language is love. LOTS AND LOTS OF HUGS AND KISSES. She does not respond to raised voices, yelling, or giving her the scary parent looks. Only calm voices and love will make her understand. We have been doing that recently even before the meeting and it really really does work. It really just goes to show you, every single child is different and responds very differently to various forms of discipline. I truly cannot thank my childrens teachers enough for the love and care they put into their work. My kids go to school very happy and excited to see their teachers and classmates and I thank God every night that my children are in GREAT hands. To the teachers, if you’re reading this, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Overall, our first Parent Teacher Conference was a success! Im just thrilled that my children did not repeat any curse words in class.