Don't be fooled by that mischievious glint in his eyes. Beneath that cheeky looking face lies a sensitive little heart.
K has a nick coined by dh; B.L.X, which is the acronym for 波離心 in han yu pin yin. Whenever he is disciplined for his mis-behaviour, he cries like it is the end of the world and it seems like we are such cruel parents. I always felt that he used his tears as a weapon to inflict guilt and make us go a bit easy on the discipline.
Since he has only joined his pre-school for about a month, I did not have to participate in the parents-teacher meeting and got a call from his teacher instead. Our conversation went like this :
Mrs Phua :
Mrs Ng, Kyle has adjusted very well to school.
He is a very sociable boy, extremely helpful as well, always offers to help the teachers in class.
(I was grinning from ear to ear when I heard this, but braced myself for what will come next. Preschool teachers are trained to manage the parents by first, sharing the good points of the child and then dishing out the not so nice things).
Mrs Phua :
You know being sociable, he tends to like to talk to his friends, likes to sits close to his friends and sometimes disturbs them (I expected this, since our Sunday School experience). But you know, some children don't like that (hmm…okay, he is a tad bit irritating). He tends to snatch toys when he wants to play with it, and the girl will be screaming at the top of her lungs (not a gentleman yet, I guess, besides boys are a minority in his class). So we will put him in the quiet corner for a few minutes However he does cry very easily when we do that, and he will always cry and say, "I will not do that again." Also he is quite active and tends to get very excited, so we will put him in the quiet corner to calm him down before starting the activity (already a frequent visitor of the quiet corner in just under a month?).
Me :
So after being at the quiet corner so often, is his behaviour improving?
Mrs Phua :
Uh uh…yes a little bit (this means that there hasn't been much change of behaviour). Don't worry we will continue to guide him and one more thing, he is also a very vocal child.
Me :
You know since he is an only child, he gets very little social exposure except those times when he is in school. I will really need your help to guide him in his social skills.
When I shared this with dh, his comments were "Mister BLX strikes again!" and when I shared this with Nana, she laughed out loud. I don't know where was the hilarity in it, maybe grand-parents really do see things quite differently. I have to see the positiveness of the feedback and remind myself that I have a real sensitive child despite his obstinate and strong-willed personality. As for his lack of social skills, I am not majorly concerned over it, as I think it will improve over time as he learns and develops empathy, as well as given more opportunities for interaction, guidance and role-playing at home.
Hmmm… teacher’s comments similar for Kai’s … HAHA… likes to sit close and disturb other children (he can be quite rough), and cry easily when he got “told” by teacher!!! AND he is also frequent visitor of the quiet corner too!!! Boy!
.-= Tin´s last blog ..Life of a SAHM =-.
I figured that this sort of behaviour is typical of boys who are active and more sociable, but lack social skills, thus I am not fretting so much over it
Beneath that active and stubborn facade, they are both sensitive little boys and they just need more time and guidance to change their behaviour.
Haha… yeah looks like both our boys are frequent visitors of the quiet/thinking corner in school… 😉 I’ve learned to chill a little more about his teacher’s complain now… and even laughed it off in front of the teacher on Wednesday when the teacher (AGAIN) complained about Tim’s unsociable behaviour… *shrug* well… he’ll learn as time goes by… of course with a lot of reinforcement & guidance of what’s the acceptable behaviour by us when he’s at home
.-= mamabliss´s last blog ..My Little Phonics Teacher =-.
Sigh…boys will be boys. We just have to be patient and hope that sort of behaviour will change as they grow older.
Does this issue only applies to boys only?? ;p
Anyway, let’s us all work on our boys’ ‘over-friendliness’ !
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Water Fun at Marina Barrage =-.
Haha…seems that way for us
But I have heard that of more ‘active’ girls being like that, but it’s rare though.
When I read this, I was thinking “I wish I have this issue with my boy Isaac ” Mine is the total opposite. His teacher’s “complaint” about him is that he is TOO quiet. She wrote in his report that he “has a hard time expressing himself”. My boy just simply refuses to talk to anybody when he’s in school. Take heart that Kyle is being a lively and sociable child. That’s how children should be!
.-= Ing´s last blog ..All In A Day’s Work =-.
I guess the grass on the other side is always greener
I suppose we have to learn to look at the positiveness of it and do the best we can to help them along with their weaknesses.
Yeah, C is the complete opposite too. Too timid and quiet in class and she takes too long to warm up to the people around her. I’m having a hard time getting her to speak up
However, she is very vocal at home (to the point of being noisy at times haha). How I wish she has a little bit of Kyle in her!
.-= Chloe’sMummy´s last blog ..A Teacher Wannabe =-.
Each have their own set of challenges…sometimes I do wish that he is not so noisy though.
Hi there,
Do you think Kyle is a gifted child? Kyle is having similar ways as my son.
Hi Agnes, thanks for dropping by and leaving your comments. Kyle may be slightly advanced in some areas of development (his large motor skills), has a very logical mind, but I can’t tell if he is gifted. Gifted-ness I think is rather hard to tell in early childhood, unless the child can show exceptional abilities in some areas; learn to play an instrument / teach themselves to read or do simple math at 3 or have exceptational artistic ability etc. Most children will have an area which they are particular good at or a combination of areas, which can be advanced than other kids. As long as we provide the opportunities to develop his interests and abilities, whatever they may be. And provide the exposure to other areas to fuel the interest and challenge for the child, so that he or she achieves their maximum potential.