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FAMILY

ANOTHER TERM ENDS….Let’s Evaluate!

  

The long holiday is here again! I am particularly happy as my little girl will rest from waking up so early, hurriedly having breakfast, driving to school (waiting for school bus) and other daily school “runs” (activities). I will miss her company though. We usually drive together and I greatly enjoy and cherish our morning chit chats and confessions (she usually repeats after me) ….”Today is Monday, I am happy, I am intelligent, I will play, I will eat and blah blah”. It is fun to drive with her to school (for those that can manage it, try it). This is one of the ways of bonding with her in this my activity pace phase of life.
The valedictory, prize giving and party day was last week. By the way, the name differs amongst schools. I am thankful that all the preparations to dress up our children to outsmart others (mothers can be that competitive!), the constant rehearsal of recitations, poems and acts to be rendered at the ceremony have come to an end. It is usually a tasking period but also fun filled, as we truly come to discover the best of some “unknown” aptitudes in our children.  Our effort is greatly rewarded when we watch with pride as they recite their lines without fumbling and perform their acts without mistakes. After the ceremony, we can convincingly say our labour has not been in vain!
The highlight of this ceremony is the prize giving and this is highly anticipated. If your child is a pre-nursery kid like mine, you will not be too excited about the honours’ roll call but will rather wait to receive the report card which is particularly hilarious. The pre nursery report card often does not have a grade (1st, 2nd or 3rd) but mostly divided into three sections – cognitive traits, being the ability to recognize letters and numbers; affective traits (behaviour) and psychomotor traits (skills). These assessments differ among schools.  The three sections basically require the teacher to remark on the child’s abilities.
As I read my daughter’s report card, I saw a remark – “She takes care of her things”.  I could only envision what behavioural trait would have caused the teacher to write that in response to an affective trait parameter – “sense of responsibility”. I smiled as I imagined my daughter saying “leeave iiit” while trying to stop another child from playing with the toys, books or whatever the teacher has placed in her care. Other remarks simply ignited bouts of laughter.

For parents with children in primary one and above, the report card is an opportunity to honestly evaluate the true position of your child’s abilities and capabilities as observed by a “third party”. Also it is a time to compare progress from the previous term’s performance and evaluate the child’s total performance (aptitude, skill etc) against the school fees paid .These needful evaluation should serve as a basis for decisions such as registering for summer school, employing a personal coach, and the likes… Time, space and convenience are not just enough reasons to ship them off to summer school (my opinion sha!).
 As we look through these report cards, let us be generous in our praises and frugal with our criticisms; encourage where progress is needed and not relax where improvement is required. For the spic and span mom, try not to worry about picking up the toys a hundred times in a day, the increased house hold chores (laundry, cooking, etc) or the constant chat and built up energies in our kids seeking avenues to be spent. Just relax and relish this moment –abi! period.

This holiday, let us pay particular attention to our children’s attitude and words as it’s an opportunity to right the negative attitude and careless words imbibed from “outside”.

In all, consciously create an atmosphere and opportunity for inculcating needful morals, good etiquette and family bonding.
Happy holiday!!

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3 Comments

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    August 6, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    Its simply the truth, I love it, God will help us.

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    August 6, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    I love my daughter, she is so smart..

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    August 1, 2012 at 7:05 pm

    Nice

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