Meeting the teacher: a confident start

With two days to go before the big First Day At School, we had a visit today from M's teacher and her two teaching assistants.  It's the way they do things at his school; they like to get to know the parents and the child and to build a rapport before school starts.  It was good to put a face to a name.  Miss T is about to start her first year at M's primary, but she has taught abroad and in other schools. I guess she is in her late twenties or early thirties.

The three ladies arrived half an hour early (I hadn't put my food shopping away and had not done the last minute sweep of the living room to clear away any clutter, so I was a bit flustered!)  M has been soooo excited about starting school so he was dancing about with delight.  In a very teacherly way, they came in, holding clipboards, and didn't introduce themselves until we were five minutes into the conversation.  M turned away from them so I asked him if he felt shy.  In a loud, confident voice, he declared, 'No Mummy, I'm not shy!'  It really put me in my place!

I felt a bit ashamed of myself.  I should have given him the chance to show that he's a confident little boy.  He went on to chat animatedly to the three visitors, telling them all about what he likes doing, what he'd been doing during the summer and the books he likes to read.  He got out one of his favourite books 'See Under the Sea', a factual book all about the oceans, and proceeded to rattle off the page headings to them.  I could see glances being exchanged between them.  I'm not sure what those glances meant, but I think that maybe they were impressed.

When it was time for them to leave, M saw them to the door, calling, 'See you in the classroom!' I was so proud of him.  If I ever had any worries about whether he'd have the social confidence to start school at the tender age of four years and two months, today has made them evaporate.  I think it's me who needs to have the confidence to trust him, and to let him go, just a little bit more.