parent teacher night

[firegrrl]

Little Bear (Well, I guess he's Big Bear now) is in a Casa program 3 days a week. He is among the youngest in the class, since the program is for ages 3 through 6. Last night was Parent Teacher night

Comments

[eyelid]

What on earth makes a three-year-old shy?

this is what:

I was such a painfully shy, insecure kid.

it's probably genetic. up side: you got over it, so he probably will too :)

My kids are super-pushy and assertive, have been since day one. Can't imagine where they got that from. On the one hand, I don't worry about them being pushed around - but on the other, I worry about them alienating other kids by being too aggressive, whiny, whatever.

I doubt BB's shyness has anything to do with putting him in with other kids. If anything, I think that'll be good for him, because he'll become acclimated to dealing with others more quickly (less scared of it).

[firegrrl]

You're probably right. It's definitely true that kids have different personalities right from the start, before nurture can really stick its oar in. I see that firsthand with my little ones.

[wyliekat]

I think this here is the crux of the nature/nurture debate. As in, I do believe that there is raw material we work with in the formation of our children that we have no influence on whatsoever. And you being a shy and timid kid means you had better than average chances of having the same. If that's the case, all you can do is mitigate this fact and arm him better than you were ever armed, which sounds exactly like what you're doing.

FWIW, Rosebud is the opposite of Big Bear - fearless, socially confident and very good at laughing at herself and her own actions. I was also like this as a kid. The difference between her and me is that I hope to manage and facilitate her growth so that she stays this way, without getting too pushy or rude. I ended up being more timid and lacking in self-esteem because I didn't get this kind of steering.

[firegrrl]

I really hope we're better able to arm our kids against this than our parents were. I guess being aware is the first step. I don't think 70s parents were much aware of anything going on for kids, socially.

"What? Social skills? They're kids!"

But so were the characters of Lord of the Flies.

[wyliekat]

This is true - our parents as a whole seemed to pay very little attention to our emotional development, back in the day. I hope that what we're doing is an improvement, though I guess we won' t know until our kids are older and tell us either a) we were pretty good as parents or b) we smothered them with our focus on their development and growth.

Could go either way, really. ;-}