Its 
Parent-Teacher Conference Time.
Parent-Teacher Conference Time. Thats right, the time when you have to sit in a tiny little chair and see where your kids dot falls on the graph of other kids dots. Its where you are held responsible for when your child is a turd in class. In our history, its also an opportunity for the kid in the hot seat to deflect "My mom and dad shower together." (Trin - conferences 2009)
The trend these days is to bring the child with you to their conference. I kind of liked meeting the teacher without them as the child waiting anxiously to hear how the report went. We brought them all along. This was Zeph's first time in THE CHAIR since he is in Kindergarten. I was worried when the principal stopped us in the hall to tell us she asked Zeph how he felt about his conference and he had told her he was nervous. "I just don't know which way its going to go. " he confessed. It was easy, breezy. He's bright, but EXTREMELY competitive (don't know where he gets that) whether its finishing homework first or finishing snack. She did commend how he interacts and encourages his classmates. (finally, the ego is getting in check?)
Trinity is much better this year about turning in her homework, though her desk is sloppy (have you seen her room?). Miah's teacher is VERY peppy. This has been a positive yin to Miah's tortured artist yang. Miah's writings these days focus more on pandas and humor and less on gloom and doom. Junah is ahead in his subjects but he tunes out his teacher when he doesn't want to pay attention (I kind of do this during work meetings too). Wrigley has finally found his groove in middle school. Its hard to be that cool. Kainon is As across the board and all of his teachers commented on how respectful he is. He just needs to give others the opportunity to share/answer. Savannah is excelling in her alternative school. We just have to keep her going.
For the most part things went really well. Our kids are geniuses of course. All seven are doing fine scholastically, but there was also a common theme of blabbermouths. Our kids can't stop from sharing their thoughts whether its with their neighbor (love how teachers call other students their neighbor) or during class discussion. I feel responsible for this. Not parentally as much as genetically.
At home we sit at the table most of the time and we take turns talking. Junah points out which of his rude friends interrupt. I try to teach them to listen to each other and not just wait for your turn to blurt out. But their mother is a motormouth. I talk ALOT. I talk FAST. It takes practice for people to listen as fast as I talk so that they can keep up with what I am saying to them. In school I was always sat in the hall (even in high school) for talking out of turn. *Funny thing about that is I remember running into Jason in high school because he had been sent to the hall too. I speak my mind. I always have an opinion. Over time, I have learned to contain my commentary to the appropriate settings and I am confident the kids will learn this as well.
For now, I can look forward to 12 more years of conferences. I don't think I will ever be told they are shy.
