Parents Evening

I’ve been trying to get an appointment with my son’s teachers for a while as I’m concerned about his progress in school, but…..I’ve phoned the school and left messages with the receptionists who always promise that I’ll get a call back, but……

My son has always been good in maths, science, and any subject that does not need much reading. He hates reading, which is the opposite of his mother. But of late, all I hear is 'I hate Maths'. He never seems to have any homework.

Then, there are these drums lessons he takes, which I have to pay for. Last term I asked him what time he goes for drums and it turns out it’s during class time. The lessons are 35 minutes which take up 15 minutes of his play time and 20 minutes of a Humanities lesson. I reckoned that if I’m paying for the drums, they should be taught after school. I talked to the Form Tutor about this, and we agreed they’d find a slot that does not conflict with his lessons, and if not I’d withdraw him from the drums completely. No slot was found, and no one told me, until the end of the term when I got a letter reminding me that I had not paid for drums.

Yesterday was Parent’s Evening. I saw almost all the teachers. Apart from Spanish and Humanities, my son is either on or above the expected level. Spanish I understand as it’s a new subject he picked up when he went to secondary school last year, and he seems to be making progress, but Humanities……… mmhh, it’s the damn drums.

I was talking to the Humanities teacher when I noticed my son had a chewing gum in his mouth. I told the principal to excuse me a second. I asked my son to remove the gum from his mouth and wrap it on a tissue which I handed to him, then we continued.

As soon as we finished with the Humanities teacher, who was very concerned, we went straight to the Form Tutor, who didn’t seem to understand my concerns, so we went to the Deputy Principal and poured all my worries. In the middle of our conversations, I noticed my son was chewing again, I flipped. Right there and then, I turned to him and made a whole scene.

‘I just told you to stop chewing’.
‘You know you shouldn’t chew in school’.
‘It’s rude to chew when talking to people, especially your teachers’.
‘Can you sit up when I’m talking you to you’?
‘Is that how you disrespect your teachers?’

The principal just looked at me. The parents with the other teachers near me looked at me. My son just sat there, not knowing what to do or say. We always have these kind of conversations at home, but he had never seen me react this way before. I had to do this, my way of embarrassing him so he never repeats this again. I’d hate to imagine him like some kids I see around. When I was in school, I’d have been punished for this, so, where or when did the line get broken?

‘I’m sorry mummy’, he kept saying.
‘I’ll deal with you when we get home’ and I got back to business.

‘It’d be good to have more of your kind, maybe the kids here would listen more’.
To cut the whole thing short, I’m withdrawing Master Maua from the drum lessons, and I’ve registered him else where for two hours a week after school for the same amount. He’s grounded (no playing games, just reading and finishing his pending home work) for a week coz of chewing gum and for not handing in his homework in time in almost all the subjects except Art and Spanish.

But the punishment starts tomorrow as he’s going with me to watch Kenya play rugby, the closest he gets to being close to Kenyans from Kenya as opposed to Kenyans from London or UK in general.

Hoping to see some of you guys. Farmgal, Superb Stallion, I'll look out for you.