ADMISSIONS OF A CONTROL FREAK MOMMY
That’s Nico holding his report card. It contained his grades for the first quarter. Though the lower portion of his face was partly hidden in the photo, still can be gleaned a happy Nico who seemed proud to show off his grades. Why?
Modesty aside, Nico’s grades for the first quarter were so impressive, and that puts him on top of his class. These said, it should have made me one proud Mom. In a sense, yes I am so proud of my son for such early achievements. Sino bang magulang ang hindi magiging proud? However too, being a Mom, it worries me that such high grades are giving too much pressure to my little preschooler to maintain his high grades for the next three quarters.
Since the start of the second quarter, we have been receiving constant love notes from the preschool Teacher advising us to give special attention to our little boy’s schooling specifically his with Science and Math. Hubby, upon seeing one of the love notes at one time he was guiding Nico through his assignments said: “Bakit, masyado bang napag-iiwanan ang anak ko kaya kailangan nating tutukan?” Both of us had no idea about the Teacher’s love notes. So being the doting Dad that Nico’s Dada is, he talked to the Teacher the following day only to found out that the so called advice to give “special attention” was so as such that Nico remains to be on top of his class for the succeeding quarters. “What? Yun lang yun? Grabe naman ang pagpe-pressure nila sa bata. He’s just a three year old kid who still loves to play and learn! And he’s not even in big school yet!” said me. The love notes never stopped after that talk with the Teacher (the last one we received, she was advising us to teach Nico how to enhance his drawing because he said Nico’s drawings are not so nice as what was asked in the seat work instructions, susme!). But Hubby and I agreed to not really take those notes so seriously as we do not want to make school stressful for our son.
I admit, most of the time I was a control freak Mom as I was paranoid about my son’s developments i.e. if he’s able to catch up with the school’s lessons, his lack of interest to write before, he’s ability to socialize with others, etcetera, etcetera. But through time, with constant reminders from Hubby and my Mom, and families and friends (including Blog friends, most especially to Chats who inspired me immensely through this post, to share my thoughts too), I eventually learned not to think too much every time I suspect something unusual with my son. I don’t want to make it appear to my son that everything that he does should be something outstanding or merely perfect. “It’s okay if you color outside the line”, “It’s alright if you commit mistakes in the seat works”, “No problem if you miss to answer a question, that’s perfectly fine”, were encouraging words that I now often say.
And so a week before the second quarter exams, there was this long list of “Please Review” from the Teacher again. We took a look at it? Yes. Review as stated? No, definitely not. What we did was to ask our little boy what he knows and what he’s already familiar with vs. what’s not so clear to him and what confuses him. Then we address them, no harsh, no rush. And when Nico seemed to still be confused we just say: “It’s alright. For as long as you try hard to do your best, and you learn from it, and you enjoy being school—that’s the most the mattered to Mommy and Daddy”.
Nico’s exams started Monday and ended today and he happily told me (even without being asked) that he did pretty well with his exams. The report card with the second quarter grades will be released when the third quarter starts in November and that should not bother us. And hey, tomorrow officially marks the semestral break and that means about more than a week of exclusive time to enjoy with my little boy until classes resume November 5.
Again, ending this post with a photo essay kuno (pinag tahi-tahing kwento ng mga litrato na sana’y maka relate at relevant sa post na ito). 
Yey, nandito na report card ko ng first grading!
Eto oh.
Ang tataas ng grades ko.
Pero ooppps, teka. Kaya ko kayang i-maintain ito?
Bahala na. Basta ang sabi ng Mommy ko, Ok lang naman kung hindi.
Basta love nya pa rin ako, kahit anong mangyari!
16 responses so far
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Wafung bata! Bagay talaga sila ni Deye ko. :p Kaya sabihin mo sa Trisha na yun, lumayo-layo ha! :p
Congratulations to Nico!! And to Mama and Papa as well
But I can relate with what you are saying. It’s hard not to be a complete control freak when you see that your kids have potential. Don’t we all want them to be the best? However it’s this attitude that sometimes pushes them the other way. I’ve seen it happen with some relatives. By grade school the kids are all burned out and ayaw ng mag-aral!! With my kids I just let them enjoy. Tutal I have confidence in them that they’ll do good. And for crying out loud, they’re in preschool pa naman. How bad can it get? Mag worry na lang ako pag sa linear programming na sila nangangamote
Atsaka nga pala, mukhang nagkaka-3 way squabble para kay Nico!! KAY ADI SIYA!!!!
Very handsome little boy you have there. Ang laki na nya!!! You should be proud! Congrats and Keep it up Nico!!! WOOHOO!!!
hi balae.
may field trip nga sila ngayon eh. di ko na nga lang pinasama si Nico, baka ma-develop ng todo kay Trisha.
Cookie, the keywords “baka burnout”, I so agree. a good friend of ours, he has gifted kids, ayun, sobrang burnedout sa schooling, ayaw na tuloy mag-aral. elementary grader pa lang yun.
masarap syempre isipin if our kids are way ahead of kids their age, flattering di ba? pero anything too much, as they say, is bad. like your parenting style, we’ve learned not to worry too much and just let my son enjoy his schooling. anyway, the foremost of our consideration why we enrolled him this early is to gain new friends and socialize, and make learning an enjoyable experience, not a horrifying one.
love triangle nga yata ito. sige, goodluck na lang, matira matibay.
thanks Litzie.
big boy na nga eh and syempre we’re so proud. at grabe ha, ayaw ng magpa take a bath sa akin, binata na daw sya.
Hi Feng!
Una sa lahat, congrats sa hosted site mo. Enjoy tweaking.. It’s daunting but exciting no?
It looks like Nico is doing great in school, and you have nothing to worry about.
Ang gwapo nya ha! pakurot nga!
Hi Chats! thanks.
ey, medyo painful pala ang hosted blog like this. parang nanibago tuloy ako. kasi naman with the free WP, I don’t have to update manually the plugins. but I love it much better here.
you’re right, I should stop being a control freak na, sobra na eh.
oh. i’ve been hearing kid’s stress nowadays nga, a word which was never correlated to kids during our time, di ba? .. but i’m glad that you’re openminded and not a slave of what the society pushes you to do so.. hay naku, let kids be kids di ba, they need to play to learn too..
hi analyse. yeah, let kids be kids, nothing more, nothing less. if the school makes learning stressful, then the parents should not be an added factor to it. guilty yata ako dun, my bad!
Cutie-pie talaga si Nico, sarap halik-halikan.
Feng, Kelvin is also 3 but his nursery doesn’t focus on formal learning. Minsan nako-concern nga ako dahil he will start at reception next year. But like you I remind myself there is no need to rush. Besides our main concern is for him to start talking properly, first thing’s first. Once in a while I catch myself being agitated about what I perceive as slow progress but I do try my best to stop & realise the most important thing, his health & happiness.
Congrats to Nico! Aba at very bright child. Congrats din sa inyong mag-asawa. You have reasons to be proud. I like what you said in the last line na basta love nyo sha kahit anong mangyari.
Minsan lang sila maging bata so let them enjoy.
N!ce
http://www.nicemorning.net
http://www.mommastuff.com
thanks Auee. I’ve comment the same for Kelvin, heart breaker yang batang yan paglaki.
yes, no need to rush for anything they can’t do just yet. madalas, nakaka praning isipin pero count to think of it, they’re just kids who wants to play and enjoy and be happy. Kelvin’s OK, now that you’ve taken a big leap with the surgery, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of progress.
God is good.
thanks Nice.
exactly my thought too. let kids be kids, right.
Congratulations to Nico’s excellent performance in school. I love Nico’s cute photos. Hope you’re enjoying the sem break.
I can somehow relate. I’ve been quite a controlling figure in my son’s life lately. I was happy with his teachers’ comments and I wanted to make most of his potential. Then I noticed he got turned off with the word assignment. associating it with something not fun to do. I realized I may have pushed too hard and after that gave him more space. Thankfully he became enthusiastic again with school assignments. It’s also Yohan’s sem break and I told myself that I will let him enjoy this break without making him study. We’ve been reading books and doing fun crafts together. I also let him watch his favorite DVDs and I try to be lenient about bed time.
thanks Rach!
glad you loved the photos. and yes, we enjoyed the sembreak. now, back to the daily grind.
congrats to Yohan too. well, with his good performance in school, some DVDs and a little over his bedtime routine won’t hurt.