I thought it was time for dad to chime in again since I know it's been a LONG time; and what better topic for me than Caleb's first parent-teacher conference at his daycare. That's right, we had a parent-teacher conference for our seven month-old son! I remember parent-teacher conferences about as fondly as I remember being called for jury duty, spending a day in traffic court, or one of the many times went to the hospital for an array of injuries I had as a kid. For me, since I was not exactly a straight-A students, there was a lot of agonizing suspense building up to the moment of the actual conference where I was usually embarrassed in front of my parents as my teachers ran down the standing list of grievances: doesn't pay attention, seems uninspired, needs to focus more, etc., etc., etc.
Like I said, I wasn't the best student!
However, approaching Caleb's first parent-teacher conference, I was as nervous and uncomfortable as I was when I was 14. It was the weirdest thing. I was nervous about what the teacher would say about my little angel, Caleb. I know he's perfect. I know he's the smartest, most athletic, best looking child in the class, but what if there is something wrong with the teacher and she doesn't see what I see?
Is this how
my parents felt before each conference? Were they nervous about what the teacher would say? Were they worried that there was something I was doing in school that they didn't know about and needed to be addressed? And did they decide on appropriate punishments for me before they even went into the conference??
It was the strangest feeling being on the other side of a parent-teacher conference for the first time, but I am thrilled to report that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Caleb's teachers; they see exactly the same perfect baby Rebecca and I see at home.
Other than needing to work on some identifying objects and head turning, Caleb is right on track and doing great in school.
If only the conferences could have gone this well for my parents....
