A child with a lot of personality

[Wanttogetoffthehamsterwheel]

Dd, 5, report stated this…any teachers here (or anyone else) that can read through this teacher speak 😂
Is this a positive or negative thing?

My son's teacher wrote "not sure how I'll manage without you reminding of all the things I forget to do"

Not sure if that's a compliment or not

I wouldn't worry about it. Mine is described as very enthusiastic but has learnt to control her impulses. She is only 5 do too early to worry.

My DC was described as Eccentric in other words odd .

I'm a teacher and have used "big personality" or "full of personality" to describe those bright sparky kids who leave you chuckling about things they said and did and make a good tale to tell in the staff room. The quiet,calm children are probably easier to teach but a personality with make you smile. Unless there's been anything else in the report or in parent's evening to indicate that they're a problem, I'd take it as a compliment.

They’re like marmite. Some will live their spirit whilst others with find them an obnoxious PITA.

I read it as a challenging child but in a positive way. I'd rather a confident individual child who knows their identity rather than insecure, quiet troubled child. I think it's a promising attribute. I think it's only marmite to those who can't deal with it 😂 sounds very healthy!

That's so cute though! Got banter between them 😂

I'm a teacher and I would mean it as a compliment. There are probably moments when the big personality might take over a bit, or need to be more aware of others' needs, but overall they are interesting, sparky, fun and memorable.

Incidentally I nearly used "big character" in a similar sense but deleted it as I was worried the mum would take it the wrong way!

Rubbish.

Let me relate a story. At the end of the academic year we were asked, as was customary, to specify which set we wanted to teach at GCSE. Normally we’d write a number however I wrote the name of a child well known to have a lot of personality. To me this person was stimulating and interesting. We had a brilliant working relationship and much success.

I teach students not children but I would see it as a good point. I’d rather teach students with big personalities - they can be reminded quietly not to dominate classes- than ones who sit there silently. The latter are the ones I worry about in terms of future careers.

Exactly this. Empty vessels make the most noise still waters run deep and all that.

Depends on the rest of the report. If there are other positive comments about their personality/ how they interact with others, it will be a compliment. If they say nothing else or report that they could be working harder or any negative comments about their social interactions, it is not a compliment.

As a former teacher, I like the child. I don’t risk writing comments like that that could be interpreted badly by difficult parents/ with cases I’d have potential future conflict. I’d just write factually, child x has had difficulty with xxx
I save the endearing or more light hearted comments for relaxed reports. It just means your child is a bit of fun, likeable scamp maybe, but not dull

Our wonderful grandson has a huge personality - he can be bloody hard work 🤣

Dull? What do you mean by dull kids?

I knew teachers were prejudiced against quiet children and this thread seems to prove it by the contributions here of teachers and former teachers!

So if you say you like children with 'personality' it means you don't like quiet children? Teachers really can't win can they?

Teachers really aren't prejudiced against any children. Part of being a teacher is supporting all children.

This.

My son was very quiet and reserved at school and was always noted by the teachers in his reports (I swear it’s because they couldn’t fault him for anything else). He was also the cleverest in the class and the teachers were always very complimentary about how sharp and intelligent he was. He actually has natural leadership skills but not because he’s loud (he isn’t) but because he’s so calm and clever. His friends at school used to look up to him because of his quiet but intelligent demeanour.

Didn’t a teacher on here say the loud ones were better than the dull ones, or words to that effect. Perhaps they weren’t a teacher but you can’t argue there’s been some unpleasant descriptions of children who d

Hard work.

Bloody phone! Who don’t have big personalities.

Thanks everyone, bit of a mixed bag of reactions, so not sure what to think, the rest of the comments were mainly nice I’d say, with a couple of points to possibly work on. My Dd isn’t dominating or loud really and having seen her at school, she’s definitely a watered down version of herself, she can be emotional, quite excitable, definitely knows her own mind and can be quite extra, i’m surprised she’d be like that at school though, although perhaps the teacher can see it in smaller ways 🤷🏻‍♀️