Report Cards Are Not Bullets

A few weeks ago Max announced that he didn't finish a test that his teacher said he had to finish in order to pass fourth grade so he went into a deep decline saying there was no way he was going to pass fourth grade and his life was basically over and nothing could ever matter again because of this stupid test...

Ah, it's such a brilliant decline he goes into.  I assured him that he was going to pass fourth grade because if he was already flunking his teacher would have said something to us.  This was no comfort to him.

We went to our first parent teacher conference on Thursday.  I had no idea what to expect because I hadn't even met his teacher yet.  I was in constant communication with his teacher last year but this year it has been sparse (my own fault) so I wondered if I was going to find another boy-hating toothy youth like his Amazonian second grade teacher...I was pleasantly surprised to find a normal-ish pleasant woman who understands boys and doesn't hate mine.  That's always a huge plus because to teach a child anything you can't hate them.

So far from flunking fourth grade he's doing really well.  Better than usual.  She didn't even make comments about his social behavior.  He still has the issues he has, yes, but he's really having a great year.  She said he was really smart and the reason she put him in advanced math is because he already knew everything she was teaching the rest of the class and he was getting bored.

Naturally he claims that he's bad at math.

Last night Max and I went out to dinner together, just the two of us.  It started out kind of rocky because Philip had committed the unconscionable crime of forgetting to bring Max his Bionicles to play with in the restaurant.  I thought I might never turn the evening around when I realized that if I got him talking about his upcoming birthday I might be able to avert complete disaster.

It worked and we ended up having the best time together just talking about everything that came into our heads and it was one of those evenings where I get to see my kid at his best and remember how much fun he can be.  I wish I had been jotting down notes so I could report all the funny things he was saying but the only one I was quick enough to jot down was

Max: It's all about cause and effect.
Mom: How do you know about cause and effect?
Max: Everyone knows about cause and effect mom!
Mom: Sadly son, there are a lot of adults who don't understand cause and effect.

We walked a few blocks to Philip's office to get a ride home with him and Max gave me about a hundred examples of cause and effect.

Cold toast may make him feel like barfing but this kid is phenomenal. 

When we got home and he wanted to know where his dad was I told him he was riding bikes with our friend Jim and that they were going to go have a beer together.  Max said "Just one beer?  That doesn't sound like my dad at all!"

He's also doing really well in Kung Fu and I am so happy that he now has an outlet for punching and kicking and an opportunity to look forward to learning to play with sticks and knives.

This coming week he turns nine and I can't help but think he's coming along just fine.