( this post is for entertainment purposes only,anybody wishing to read only specific situations,such as how to teach your ld child,or naviagting the school system,please press the back button,Thank you.)
Okay guys,my kid was driving me insane!! Still totally anxious about facing his teacher! I am in the middle of moving,everything in boxes,including my computer:-( But aside from that, the new place is only ten minutes from the school! Not the 40 minute drive it was before:-) Drove by the school upteen different times during the course of moving,I would ask,”are you ready?” “NO!!!,please give me more time!” like facing his father I finally had to say,okay enough,is enough. “you have until friday,period. If I have to drive you to the man’s house you will talk to him,by FRIDAY!!! It was either that or baker act the kid or myself!
So at 5pm friday I said,”get your shoes on,we have somewhere to go”. Being true to his ADHD diagnosis he asked”where?” “To talk to your teacher”. “NO!! Please,I will never forgive you! I hate you,please ,please.”
“okay whatever blame me,your scared,it’s okay,you’ll thank me when it’s over”.
Drive up at school,just as his Teacher was getting out of the car. He walks over to the car,no eye contact. “hello” he says,”hello” my son says. “want to come in?” His teacher says. “no,not really”,my son says. “he has something he wants to tell you”,I said.”in one long sentence the story tumbles out”.Tears in his eyes and mine,he says,” your disappointed in me” His teacher says,the thing that dissapoints me is how much you punnished yourself before you finally came and told me.” his biggest fear was you would lose respect for him”, I added. Never taking his hand off my son’s shoulder he said ,” it would take way more then that! And by coming to me I have even more respect for you”.”now,want to come in?” “yeah” As we walk into the school,the teacher’s hand on my son’s shoulder,I felt better,and my kid smiled for the first time in a week!
Glad that it worked out
hi Socks,
I just love reading the perils of parenting…I can so relate…as a child I was like your son…I would build mountains out of molehills and once I faced them head on and talked about what had happened it wasn’t such a big deal but the anguish that I would put myself through was hard on me and my family… Kudos to you and good luck with the move!
It is not the critic who counts...
Hey Socks,
Glad to hear the teacher is hu(man). I’m thrilled to hear how he responded and that your son finally got past this hurdle. I think one lesson that he can certainly gain from this horrendous experience, is that the anxiety and fretting that he builds in his head is actually worse than facing the fear of the situation. He is not the only one who wastes valuable emotion by “what if’s” and other imagined possibilities, I applaud your son’s courage and facing his fear… even if it took you handling a cattle prod to move him in the right direction. Your efforts and parental skills are to be applauded as well. I’ll leave you and your son with a quote from Teddy Rosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Best regards,
Andy
Re: more S...( please read disclaimer)
OK I’ve been soppy since the pregnancies but I was really afraid Dr. Starkey wouldn’t handle it right and when he did I got all choked up. The only thing that could have made it better was if he looked like Jimmy Stewart. I just hope when thehormones hit my boys they have as good of role models.
Re: more S...( please read disclaimer)
LOL,Dr Stark,is aprox. 60 years old,white hair,and glasses. Trust me when my boy closed his eyes and hugged this man,I had tears in my eyes.
What a wonderful son!
What a wonderful teacher!
and what a great mom!
Helen