Let me explain. I’m always proud of my kids. Every parent is. My kids are not perfect. They are ordinary kids with big dreams, big smiles, and lots of happiness. They have bad days and good day and so do I. I don’t spoil them…well, I try not to and I don’t think they’re spoiled because I don’t give them everything they want or think they need. I teach them to be good people, to work hard for what they want, to be honest and truthful, to be kind to everyone, and to forgive. I also show them to be that way by doing it (naturally living my life that way). In our house, we don’t gossip or talk down on people. We don’t cuss. That’s an automatic time out (standing nose to the wall for 5 mins – refuse or make a fuss and another 5 minutes is added – cry and yell and it becomes 30 minutes total….anymore resistance and it becomes an hour and so on). No violence. No hitting, throwing, or slamming anything. Homework is priority although sometimes extracurricular activities do get in the way but it’s manageable so it’s okay.
Having said all that, I still hold my breath and hope my kids do well academically because that’s a priority to me. It’s my number one priority. So, this past spring when my 8 year old was finishing up 2nd grade, her grade level was given an examination, one that the parents were not aware of. Just last week, the scores were given to us and I was shocked. In math, my daughter scored better than 99% of all students in the nation who took this test. This means she’s one of the top 1% of students who excel in math. I am so proud of her. She is a total math wiz. At first I just thought she enjoyed it. Now I realize she’s got something there. In first grade, she was taking second grade math. She liked second grade math but was saddened that she had to leave her classmates and go to another class to learn it so when she was in second grade, she purposely kept herself at the second grade level math because she didn’t want to leave the room to go to a third grade math. I tried to tell her it was better for her to learn third grade math if she’s good at it but she refused and I didn’t want to push her. I was a bit worried that she’d fall behind if she doesn’t push herself but looking at her math score, I think she’ll be okay. And, I think that’s all I really want is for her (and my other daughter too) to be okay. I don’t expect them to become geniuses or anything like that, although, I wouldn’t mind of course, but really I just want them to be successful in their own way and most of all, happy in everything they do. For now though, I am feeling like such a proud mom because I’m still trying to soak in my 8 year old’s math rank.
The downside to my daughter being good at math is that she suffers in her verbal skills as you can see above. But, I already knew she wasn’t a verbal person. When she was born she didn’t even cry. I was worried but the doctor said sometimes that’s normal. She was a quiet baby and toddler. She’s a talker now but she has a hard time explaining things. She does all her thinking in her head just like her math. She’s never counted with her fingers or show her work when it asks for it but her answers are always correct. I have to remind her to show her work and explain to her why. Sometimes I’ll ask her how she got her answer and her reply would be, “It’s on the paper.” Then I’d say, “No…not the answer. How did you figure out the answer?” She would say things like, “It’s in my head.” She is a lot better at explaining now but it will take time for her to get comfortable at it and I am okay with that. 🙂
From My Corner of the Universe 