Things That Dads Dream To Hear

This has been an interesting year for my older daughter, Karina. She is my big girl and I love her to death, but she has had her share of small challenges when it comes to school. One of the biggest issues (I hope she won’t feel embarrassed for me saying this) is that she deals with astigmatism as well as far sightedness. Because of that, she has had to wear glasses for several years and it’s been a challenge for her to do things that some kids take for granted. Reading is not an easy thing for her, and sometimes she has to go over sections a number of times to make sure that she gets everything.

This past year, Christina has really given a lot of up front time and attention to Karina to help her get more comfortable with reading, and especially more challenging passages. I am happy to say that that effort looks to have paid off! Yesterday was Karina’s and Amber’s Parent/Teacher conferences, and both of them were very positive and complementary. Added to that, though, were some things that were said about Karina that made me a very proud daddy indeed.

We were very excited when we saw that she had earned all A’s and one B, and had secured a spot on the Honor Roll at school. Yep, that would be a moment to make a parent proud, but that’s not the one that I’m writing about today… the one that really made me feel great was to hear her teacher say (somewhat paraphrased and second hand, mind you :) )…

“we are really happy that Karina was elected by her class to serve as the class representative to the Student Council, because she is such a wonderful role model to the other students. She is always very polite, very supportive of others, and she is kind and considerate to everyone. She doesn’t have any attitude, and I am so happy that she seems to be above and beyond all the “girl drama” that’s so common at this age.”

Really, seriously, that’s a fabulous report, but even if the top Honor Roll part hadn’t happened, hearing the second part of the conference would have made my day just as well. Often, we hope that we are teaching our children to be good citizens and good friends to those around them, and hoping that things like morality, ethics and integrity shine through at key moments. I’ve been so happy to see the many times that they do, and it gives me hope that my Heavenly Father may actually trust me with these very precious loans of three spirit children of his. It’s days like this, and comments like this, that make me feel like I and Christina might actually be doing something right! Trust me, we get ample opportunity at other times to feel exactly the opposite (LOL!), so for today, hey, I’ll take the other sentiment ;).

Surreal, In A Great Way

Chances are, Christina will blog about this as well, so I'm not necessarily beating her to the punch as I am just providing my own perspective on this :).

Yesterday, Christina has a chance to go through the "conference" process at Parkside Intermediate School here in San Bruno. This is a bit different than anything I'd heard of before... only the kids that have serious issues get one on one conferences. Everyone else gathers together for what is effectively a "job faire" for parents, only instead of dropping off resumes, they go from table to table to talk with different teachers (quickly) about how their kids are doing.

While this is not an intense or detailed time for either the parents of the teachers, it is a way to get a good and clear snapshot of what your kid has been up to the past few months. The reports that we got back were overall terrific. For starters, he has a 3.5 GPA. That's pretty good; it's better than anything *I* ever did in Junior High, that's for certain. What was even more cool and interesting to hear was the general reflections of the teachers. Nick's music teacher gave him good comments on his fingering technique for the viola (which he just started playing in September) and for the fact that she has noticed he is "working ahead" of the class (really? cool to know!). She also said that he likes to "push the boundaries" a bit, but is gracious and polite when called on it. Otherwise, no problems at all and genuinely a great kid to work with.

What was wonderful to hear was the fact that every teacher had similar things to say. Nick's science teacher said he couldn't wait to see what ideas Nick would come up with for the science fair, as his imagination had already proven to be tremendous thus far (this comes after his rather unique approach to presenting a plant cell model to the class... he baked a cake and decorated it with all of the cell model components... edible, of course :) ).

Even teachers we thought would be tough on him (Nick was sure that his Algebra teacher had it in for him (LOL!)) was nothing but complementary... and also said not to take too seriously the less than stellar few assignments that had been turned in thus far, because on the whole, his work shows he's able to do quite well, as long as he keeps focused and commits to being consistent. A number of teachers pointed out that he is one who gets things quickly and can just listen in class and do well on the tests without any aditional work. They mentioned this not just as praise, but also as a warning... he needed to realize that things may not always be so easy, so getting into the habit of studying hard even when he doesn't really need to will help him down the road when his class work gets more difficult and he cannot rely on "osmosis" as easily (seeing as this was exactly the issues I had later on, *I* am certainly taking this advice to heart :) ).

The most interesting feedback, though was on his interactions with other people. We see him at home, and behind the doors and windows of the house, he is free to be a kid and, more to the point, our kid. Thus we see him at times when the "coolness" factor is non-existant (LOL!). However, at school, just about every teacher said that he was "articulate, well regarded, well mannered and good spirited" to borrow a few quotes. A couple of teachers added the flourish of describing him as "a real charmer"... which I know all too well (LOL!).

Nick is used to me coming down on him because I'm the Scoutmaster, and as such, I don't allow him to get away with any "favored treatment", so it may seem like I'm rougher on him than many of the other boys. To an extent, I may well be, but at the same time, I'm also one who wants to take the opportunity when it presents itself to encourage and congratulate him when he's done well and has distinguished himself in an area that I think matters. This is one of those times, and thanks for indulging me :).