I'm so stinking proud of my first grader tonight. I know I'm a bit biased, but I think mine is pretty darn special.
Tonight we had Nate's parent-teacher conference with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Strafford. On its' own, the conference was nothing super special. It basically confirmed what we, as parents, already know.
Nate is strong in reading and math.
Okay, so I was a tiny bit surprised by the reading part, considering that this kid had ZERO interest in reading the day he walked into kindergarten. But the math? Yeah. He's a rock star in math.
He has a great vocabulary of science words.
Coming from the mouth of the kid who loves to watch science shows and forgets NOTHING, I am not surprised.
He is a leader in his class.
Wait. What? Should I apologize for this? Exactly where is he leading them?
He needs to work on sitting still, raising his hand, and patience.
Okay, there's the Nate I know and love.
Basically he's a totally normal first grader, developmentally exactly where he should be, and armed with plenty of brain power.
None of this is what impressed me. What impressed me is the conversation I just had with him. Forgive me a bit for paraphrasing, but I'm not exactly sure what he said so I'm going to put down as well as I can remember. He asked me if we could review the information that his teacher sent home with us after the conference. So, after Nile went to bed, we sat down and read through the sheet listing his "Strengths" and his "Goals for second quarter." We talked about what he is good at, and also what he can work on, as well as the new challenges that are going to be coming up.
After we looked through the papers, I tucked him in and we said prayers. Every night after prayers, we share something that we are thankful for. Here's what I heard.
"Tonight, I'm thankful for finding out the things that I can do better at school."
Me: "Why is that, honey?"
Nate: "Because I want to know how I can do a better job."
Me: "But Nate, you do a lot of things very well."
Nate: "I know, Mom. But I like to know what I can do better at."
Me: "That makes me proud of you, that you want to improve yourself. Some kids might not want to hear about the things that they aren't doing well."
Nate: "But why?"
Me: "Well, it could make them feel bad, like they aren't doing a good job. You can imagine how that might feel, right?"
Nate: "Yeah."
Me: "So I'm really proud of you that you want to hear about the things you can do better. Nate, you know not to talk about this at school, right?"
Nate: "Yeah, Mom. That's like a secret about myself. I don't need to tell the other kids what I am good at. It might make them feel bad."
I can't put into words how proud I am of my son. When I re-read what I wrote above, I'm not sure that it comes out exactly how it happened. But the idea is there, so that's good enough. Here is what I know. Nate is one of the kindest, sweetest boys I have ever met. He is considerate, he is loving, and he honestly wants to please everyone. Sure, he gets overly excited at times and occasionally fights with his brother (but who doesn't?). But I have never seen him do something to intentionally hurt someone's feelings.
Never seen him being mean to another child. And on the few times that I have called him out on doing something
almost mean (to Nile), those are the times that I truly see on his face that he understands and feels regret.
Tonight I am so proud of my son. Not because he's smart (which he is), but because he's a
good kid and because he always gives his best. And that's more important to me than any report card.
