DS is in the foundation stage at his school. His class consists of 16 other kids. A few things recently have started bothering me;
Firstly: I go to collect him one friday afternoon and he is stood in his wellies forlornly clutching one of his school shoes, there are 4 or 5 girls sat around crying because, whilst they were playing outside, a little boy in there class had been throwing shoes on the school roof. When I arrived there were 5 staff there, and it concerns me that this 4-5 year old boy was able to go a good 20 metres away from the rest of the class collect the shoes, go back out and throw them on the roof (and considering the amount of shoes he managed to get up there I'm guessing he was able to do this more than once) without any of the staff noticing him/his absence.
The next week: Collect DS in the afternoon, he's wearing his sun hat, we get home, he takes off the hat and there is about a 2 inch bruise just above his temple. Now I don't wrap my son up in cotton wool but surely someone should have mentioned a bumped head of any kind? Mind you there have been 2 times where I have taken him in the morning and his teacher has said 'Oh forgot to tell you yesterday, DS was bitten by another pupil, could you sign this please' - I wasn't so bothered about this at the time but it just another niggle.
Wednesday: School trip, I had specifically asked the teacher on Tuesday whether they had to wear uniform for the trip and she said yes. So when we arrive at the school on Weds morning to find that DS is the ONLY one in uniform I was absolutely gutted for him, and did say to one of the teachers that perhaps a little more comunication was required in things like this so the kids weren't made to feel left out in such a way.
This morning: Yes ok, I was a little snippy about the school uniform thing yesterday, I am 20 weeks pregnant with DC3. DS was upset that I'd asked him to put his hat in his draw when we got to school (he gets like this when I drop him off, he is very quick to cry, which he gets from me) his teacher asked if she could have a word, I could feel myself being wound up by DS and said politely that maybe we should keep it for another day as I didn't think I could deal with it this morning. DS then gets really upset that I won't talk to said teacher. I'm knelt on the floor telling him I will talk to Mrs X another day, Daddy was picking him up (something for him to be excited about) and that there was no need for him to be upset about anything - meanwhile, Mrs X has taken hold of DS's wrist and is saying 'Come with me DS, we'll have a look at the pictures from the school trip' and starts dragging him away.
I took his wrist back and said 'I'm not finished. Let me deal with this, I am capable' she said she didn't feel it was something that needed dealing with and that she was trying to help - I'm afraid the old pregnancy hormones may have taken over entirely then (I was already crying with rage) and I said 'you may be trying to help but you just come across as patronising and I'm getting sick of it' (She is a good teacher, the kids love her, but having spent so long with 5 year olds she has obviously forgotten that people don't generally appreciate being spoken down to)
Surely when a parent is talking to their child you don't try and drag the child away? No matter who you are. I would be livid if even my own mother, or DS's Dad did this. How dare she undermine my authority like that? What if he now thinks he doesn't have to listen to me at all, and if he doesn't listen about the little things is he going to listen when I tell him not to run out in a road or anything else dangerous?
I know this whole thing may be overshadowed by pregnancy hormones. My DD is going to be in this woman's class in september and I'm just not sure if I,
a) trust the school
b) trust her.