Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Character

We recently had Drake's parent-teacher conference. I was eager to have a chance to talk to the teacher one on one and hear how Drake was doing at school. I knew, from the papers he brings home, that he was doing fairly well academically and Drake will honestly give us his behavior report every day and so we knew that there had not been any major issues (only some chattiness!). However, we struggle at home a lot with Drake. He is a perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things and also very competitive and that leads to frequent issues. So, the time came to get to hear from another adult about how he handles himself at school. His teacher started off the conference by telling us that Drake's character and honesty are very admirable and unusual for this age. Whew, I guess some things we are teaching are sinking in. She was so impressed with his honesty one day because she called several children up to get a treat for not getting any warnings that week (for talking). She called Drake's name. When she was going to give him his treat, he reminded her that he had gotten a warning for talking the day before so he shouldn't get the treat. She was so impressed with his honesty that she pulled him aside later and gave him the treat anyway. She also made the comment that when asked to use the word "believe" in a sentence in front of the class that his sentence was "I believe in God." We have struggled so much over the last few years with private vs. public education and which option is the best for our family. We want to protect him from bad influences but yet want him to be a light to the other kids as well. That was enough assurance, at least for now, that we have made the right decision.