Pancakes & a Proud Moment

Happy Pancake Day! Yes we did the whole pancake thing with the kids and made them eat English pancakes. Actually, I know from past experience that they will not do the traditional lemon juice and sugar thing, so I put maple syrup and strawberries on them instead. Think of them as Anglo-American pancakes. As I gave them to the boys Craig muttered "sacrilege" under his breath and walked away shaking his head.

Tonight was Jack's teacher conference at school. I have been worried about it because he's been reading & writing below grade level, he's one of the youngest in the class, and I had worked myself up to asking if he should repeat first grade (Jack does NOT want to do that but I don't want him to struggle).  After the last conference I came out feeling like a complete failure and I was a bit irritated too, feeling like he wasn't getting what he should be getting at school. Since then, he has had a reading & writing helper (Mrs G) and has just come along great guns.

So tonight his teacher said he's reading at grade level, doing fantastic at maths (bloody hell, he doesn't get that from me) and he is just doing great all-round. She said he absolutely can and should progress to second grade and looked shocked that I had even suggested that he repeat first. Then she told me and Craig that we had done a wonderful job of raising a nice kid and I had to fight back a big lump in my throat. I know my quivering chin gave me away though. On the way out I saw Mrs G and told her how much we appreciated her and how wonderful she is. She really did make all the difference to our lad's reading and writing. I wish the people that make decisions about teacher's salaries could meet people like her. It makes me so mad that teachers are not appreciated more in this country.

But anyway, what a great night. Our lad Jack is doing ok and I can sit back tonight and think that maybe I'm not such a bad parent. That should last until the morning at least, when I'll want to throttle them both again.