is anyones kis NOT top of their class on mumsnet?

[cod]

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I think we should come back to those reading threads when our children are all grown up. The updates would be extremely interesting.

wallace - how sweet! Id be bursting with pride too

yes, tigermoth, you are right as usual - these thread will come back to haunt us one day.

Ks, no wonder you are proud of your son's enthusiasm and interest in everything.

nightynight - tell that to my husband!

My feelings towards being top of the class are tainted by the knowing the history of my husband and also my best male friend who I knew from the age of 4 years old. My husband was top of his class, early reader (no TV so books and more books from childhood) exceptional singing voice, (his teacher wanted him to try for the Vienna Boys choir). He had a very rocky life in his teens and early twenties and has an ordinary job now that he is reasonably happy in - and he's still an avid reader - for pleasure.

I male friend had a brilliant mind, top of his class again, won an exhibition scholarship to Kings College Cambridge, couldn't cope, became intensly paranoid, couldn't hold down any job and died an alcoholic at the age of 42.

dd1 is officially duffer, extra support for numeracy. but makes up for it by being fastest girl in her year.

dd2 is too shambolic to know yet

Yeah, I was suspended for smoking. For a day. Also 2 days for 'supplying tobacco to minors' b/c I bought ciggies for friends who were 17 when I was 18.

We had a 'smoking section', but it was outside. Well, that sux when you live in a semi-tropical climate where it rains a lot. So one lunch I was gasping for a fag and nipped into the girls' toilets for a few puffs. Only to be grassed.

Oh, well, I had fun on my day off .

oh and dd1 is fastest in her swim class [proud]

dd1 is top of her class, but then nearly half the class are on the special needs register. She's lippy, funny, hates school and teachers mostly don't like her much either.

Ds is doing well at reading but his maths is a bit ropey. Overall he's in the top third of the class but no more than that. He's bouncy, enthusiastic and cheerful, and teachers love him to bits.

Dd2 is only 2, but I can confidently predict she will be queen of the naughty corner.

Moral: people who think they want their child to top of the class should be careful what they wish for.

Sitling is so NOT academic!! Bt he is a loving little mite with great social skills. Now, if wanted to be a lawyer I may be concerned, but right now (and for almost three years actually) he has wanted to be a chef. He's not stupid, just practical and I think it'd be perfect for him (and me - though there's a long story about a chef I went out with who turned out to be such a useless cook I had to teach him but anyways).

Harry isn't going to be academic either, from what I can tell. Too laid back. but the happiest chap you could ever imagine

I'm with sobernow, i think it's usually seen as arrogant in this country, (and very often on mumsnet),to praise your child or be proud of them.
When i saw this thread i just knew it would be you Cod!
You are very moody lately and everything annoys you! Not pregnant are you??

Good moral btw Frogs- dh and I always delighted in Sam's abilities until we realised it was AS! Still like the abilities IYKWIM, but life'd be easier for him if he were more average

Just incase it isn't clear from my post, i think it's awful that it is seen that way!

my dd1 is 3 and can recognise the logos for Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco's, Housing Units (bloody MIL!), M&S, McDonald's and Wickes.

Will she be a shoplifter?

dd1 age 5 not top of her yr 1 class. hovering around the middle.

teacher says she spends recent maths sessions lying on the carpet with legs in the air.

but as a proper middle class over-educated mother I know it has to be that clearly she's not performing much cos she's soooo intelligent and sooo bored with the work? right?

On the odd day that DS brings home a book that is below his reading ability, we have a bit of a giggle about how boring it is. Once I even wrote in his reading diary that we both thought it was a really boring story - only for the diary to come back with a smiley face and the comment, "I agree!" (Which was nice.)

However, if he was consistently bringing home stuff that he could read with his eyes shut, it would lead me to presume that all similar work taking place at school was of a similar level. If that was the case, he would be bored stiff - and I would be worried and want to have a chat with his teacher about it. That would not make me a pushy parent, it would just make me a parent who didn't want her child to be so bored in school that he shut off completely. School should be fun, interesting, informative, stimulating... the list is endless. It should not bore you shitless. If I then ended up talking to the teacher and getting nowhere I would be even more concerned... and would no doubt post on Mumsnet about it, in the hope that I would get some good advice about what to do next. If I then found another thread that was, in a thinly veiled way, rubbishing me for my concerns I would be pretty hacked off.

Why do it?

I was on permanent detentions BTW for reading too much! WTF? And I got kicked out of typing class (which I never wanted to do but a girl shouldn't take too many science subjects apparently) for writing poems about my class mates on the typewriter rather than typing lists of meaningless letters on end. The only problem was that I was forgetful enough to leave them in the drawer rather than take home with me , and the teacher the unflattering poem was about was the one who found it.

Stirling isn't allowed to take books with words home coz he isn't good enough at reading to read words. So what should he read then? Hieroglyphics? And how will he get good enough at reading? (and how come they send books with words anyhow? (Not that I'm arguing BTW: he isn't ready to read. he's ready to have fun)

Am I the only person who has no idea how her child is doing in relation to anyone else in the class (top, middle, bottom?) and has no desire to discuss it with the other mothers to find out whether Ellbellette is smarter than their little darlings. (Some mothers did try to find out from me how she was doing after parents' evening, but I wouldn't be drawn, just said 'fine, we're really happy', which we were.) I only care that she enjoys school (she does) and is learning (she is). I'd be p-ed off if she was constantly bored and was being given work that didn't stimulate her... but I'd be p-ed off regardless of where she stood in relation to her peers.

DD1 is very bright (I can't and won't deny it) but doesn't necessarily mean she is top of the class. She is extremely independent, determined, loathes groupwork, often uncooperative, etc.
DD2 is also bright but is generally more cheerful and relaxed about schoolwork. She is doing well according to school because she does what she is told and rarely challenges their requests.
DS is too young to quantify but I think he will be brilliant at manual problem solving if his dismantling skills are anything to go by.

I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the different demands my children make and will post asking others in a similar position for advice or suggestions. I certainly don't post with the intention of bragging as I am often at the end of my tether with it all.

The point is, it doesn't matter where your child is in the class (have never seen a post from a mnetter saying this either) but it DOES matter if a child is working at a level that is totally unsuitable for them, either too difficult or too easy, and is unsupported by their teacher, surely? Also, I thought Vickiyumyum's post that her son's teacher had told her that he would not be allowed to progress in reading until his handwriting and sporting prowess improved was absolutely shocking. Kids with really uneven abilities (such as my dyspraxic ds) need lots of encouragement and praise for what they ARE good at. Not a focus on what they are not.
I think all of MN would rise in fury is a child with a gift for sport but who was dyslexic was told he couldn't be in the football team until he was reading at above average for his age.

dd2 isn't - she's so 'not top' that she's even got her own full-time teaching assistant.
She's the most popular kid at school though.

I have my first ever parents' evening this evening. Until 6.45pm today, please allow me to luxuriate in my fond delusion that DS is the brightest child ever to have graced the nursery and that he is in fact doing them a favour by allowing other (well meaning but essentially, well, dull by comparison) children to mix with him in the hope that some of his brilliance may rub off on them.

At 7pm I will heave a large sigh, conclude that reading is essentially a rather over rated activity only suitable for girls (compared to his speciality, nose-picking) and reluctantly break out the Omega 3 oil and the Jolly Phonics flash cards.

Permission granted.

I agree with Willow - and Aloha.

I think starting a thread like this is, at best, unkind.

Anchovy, please can you get your ds to inform my dd2 that competitive nose-picking is a sport unsuited to girls?