Tuesday, August 5, 2008

what's a mum to do?

I have a stunning picture as my desktop at the moment. I wish I could say that I had taken it, but I didn't, I got it from here. Well, I actually got it from this blog, which has so many gorgeous photos that it is actually hard to pick one. I stand in awe of the moments these people have captured.

Well, tonight was supposed to be Parent/Teacher night, but for me it did not happen. It was a drop in set-up, from 5pm to 7pm. Well that was my first grrrr, because I don't finish work till 5pm, by the time I collect all the kids it is usually 5.45, and they are starving and refuse to be temporarily sated with a drink of water and a mini bag of popcorn. No...must have dinner NOW! Which is why you find me cooking almost as soon as I set foot in the door.

Anyway, so the time it was on was a bit iffy for me, and this was exacerbated by my sudden desire to rearrange the children's area, organising that event for this Tuesday night, before coming to the horrifying realisation that I had double booked myself and wasn't prepared to let go of either.

*sigh*

SO I raced out of work, picked the kids up in record time, made it to the school by 5.45pm, to find a loooong queue of parents. My precious angels were already squabbling (perfect description), I was stressed because I was on a tight time schedule, and frustrated at the ridiculousness of having to wait in line with a toddler when, if they had set up a booking system, I could have had my set 5 or 10 minutes, been in and out and been done with it. Not helped by the fact that the picked venues were practically inaccessible for my Toddler's stroller, and no way was I letting Toddler loose! I looked at the queue, I looked at my kids, I looked at my watch, and I turned and walked out. Got back to work to find the job half done already (yay Jennifer!!), finished it off in record time and was home by 7pm.

I am annoyed that I didn't get to talk to my Tween's teachers, I really wanted some feedback from them that extended beyond the sameness they write in his report. I had a discussion with Tween about his report...

Me: So what's going on in your classes that you are distracted and talking?
Tween: I just wanna talk to my mates. But T** keeps talking and mucking around and I get in trouble cos I tell him to shut up
Me: hmmmm (disbelieving it is all T**'s fault).
Tween...plus I'm bored
Me: what, are you stupid? (this got a laugh from Tween, which is what I meant to happen). Is that why your classes are no good.
Tween: no, they just are (seriously, this is like me saying 'just because' when they ask me why I said no). Even English is (which he is good at and his teacher apparently thinks very highly of him).

*sigh*

What do I do? I told him his behaviour is his responsibility and he needs to make the choice to get his work done and muck around outside the classroom (the usual good mummy routine). I find him hard to relate to where school is concerned because I enjoyed it (mostly). I don't want him to screw up this early on. How do I motivate him (bribery does not work)?

On another, cmpletely unrelated note....

I am excited! My washing machine works again! It was a ten minute job for the repairman, there was a hair band (shame on me) jamming things up.

No comments: