Parent Teachers Conference (PTC) and afterthoughts

This is a backdated post cos RL's PTC was on 26 May before we went to Taiwan and RA was on 12 June after we came back from Taiwan.

Raelynn's PTC didn't go so well cos Wang Laoshi said she has short attention span. 上课, 没有听课, 只顾着玩她的裙子. 叫她的名字,旗庭,旗庭... 她也不知道. When the teacher asks her to do colouring, she will pick a colour pencil, colour a corner here, then take another colour pencil and colour another corner, and repeat until she has a few parts coloured, she will be happy and stop. Wang Laoshi said she is very different from RaeAnne (whom she also taught) who paid attention in class and consciously try to colour within the lines very nicely.

I really wanted to dig a hole and hide inside then, so embarrassed. But luckily, I redeemed myself and Raelynn cos I asked Wang Laoshi if she was as bad compared to the other year end babies. Wang Laoshi didn't know RL is a Dec baby because she is half a head taller than the other year-end-born classmates. After I pointed out to her, she said then she's better cos at least she can answer when Wang laoshi asks her a question (in Mandarin), some of her peers cannot answer yet. RL's form teacher Teacher Jean is new so she said she still needs more time to observe RL.

I am guilty of not doing anything for RL's studies cos I still treat her as my baby since she is the youngest in the family. I am not keen for her to grow up so fast too. So, as long as the teacher said she is better than her peers, I will leave her be. After all, she has an elder sister to emulate so I don't think she will take that long to catch up. :P

RaeAnne's PTC was the one we looked forward to cos we wanted some advice from the teachers. We find her very impatient (always shouting and raising her voice), emotional and bad tempered and always fighting with Mei Mei. Yang Laoshi (her form teacher) and Teacher Samantha (English and Maths) said RaeAnne is a good student. Never gave them any trouble just that she is too quiet. Told the teachers that she talks a lot at home but she is bad tempered. Asked the teachers if she is like that in school and the teachers said not at all, she is well behaved and gets along well with her friends so they are surprised to hear this from us.

That's reassuring cos it shows that she knows that in public social settings, she should behave herself. At least we won't be getting complain calls from her teachers. As for her tantrums, the teachers advised us to be more indirect and not to hurt her ego when she does something wrong cos she has a strong personality. Encourage her that she can do something better if she does it another way but don't say that she is wrong.

Anyway, my conclusion is that RA is usually at her best behaviour when Mei Mei is not around so she is just trying to fight for attention and love with Mei mei. She always wants us to treat them fairly and even for us to love her more so I guess she is insecure. Think we should try and bring her out on solo dates with us so that she can feel our love without Mei Mei around to compete with her.