My 8YO mudgirl came home from school today to proudly announce she’s “Student of the Month” at her elementary school! She’s been on the honor roll since Kindergarten. Her first grade teacher asked her once how she managed to be such a good student all the time, and she replied “Going to school is my job, and I take my job very seriously!” (All with a straight face! Quite a feat for a little kid!)
She takes her schooling seriously, makes friends pretty easily, treats other students, as well as teachers, with respect, and we (her parents) stay very involved in her schooling. So today, it has paid off. She got a certificate for a free Kid’s Meal at the local Chick-Fil-A, and will get her name and photo on the school bulletin board, and got her name mentioned on the morning announcements today.
She’s obviously too young to be a Doper, but she knows about mommy’s “addiction” and is delighted that I’m starting a thread about her.
For some reason, this makes me think of a story my dad used to tell about something that happened when he was in nursery school (he lived and lives not far from where you are, btw). He got his picture in the local paper as the “Nursery’s Perfect Child”. It got printed on the day he decided to run away from the school…
Tee-hee. That’s darling. Reminds me of when the taekwondo instructor asked all the students on the first day of class (first and second graders) “why do you want to study taekwondo?” They all said stuff like “I want to learn to fight” but CairoSon said “to learn focus and discipline.”
Your kid sounds like she is doing great, norinew! Both of you, keep up the good work.
Student of the month? Do schools actually do this?
I do not want to rain on your parade. I am sure it is a good thing for you and your child.
But it just sounds like McDonalds ‘employee of the month’ to me.
Well, she’s not the one who calls herself that, although she freely accepts, and lives up to, the name. We took her to her first DopeFest when she was four; it was GettysDope, and was in an outdoor park. The previous day had been quite rainy, and she found herself a nice big mud puddle to play in. She kept insisting “It’s not a mud puddle! It’s a pond! My own little pond!” Knowing, as I do, that kids are very washable, I just let her have fun. Pictures were taken (and linked to in the corresponding threads!) and she’s been mudgirl ever since!
Well, the reason places like McDonald’s does stuff like this is it’s cheaper than, oh, giving raises or cash bonuses (which I’m sure the employees would appreciate more). In public schools, though, they can’t do those things. So they recognize the hard workers in other ways.
I also think it’s a good thing that the schools recognize the good students instead of focusing solely on getting the bad ones to not run amok.
I’ll be the first to admit it’s not on par with winning the Nobel Prize or something, though.
Way cool, norinew. That kind of attitude is going to pay off well in years to come.
I don’t recall any student of the month awards in our kids’ grade or middle schools, but in HS each quarter each department names one kid for departmental honors, and each month they give 6 or so kids “Matter of Pride” awards - teachers nominate them for anything they may consider above and beyond the ordinary.
In our school there is so much attention given to sports, I found it really neat having kids recognized for academics and character.
And while you and your kid see her as just doing her “job”, you realize of course that there are many many parents out there who will never have their kids named “student of the month.”
Well, I agree about making a big deal of it. That’s one of the reasons I started a thread. I made it a point to tell her I was so impressed with her accomplishment I was starting a thread about it. I’ve been a Doper since she was a wee lass, and she understands how this works. (In fact, these days, if I’m in front of the computer and LOL, she’ll look at me, and say “Dopers?”)
Just make sure that she also excels at the skill of having fun. I’ve met far too many people that were so focused on getting good grades and being good little students that they forgot that life is really all about having a good time.
Sometime around eighth grade or thereabouts I was student of the month once. While it sounds good to have “kids recognized for academics and character”, I fear that most of the winners were the “popular kids”. Why on earth I got picked is beyond me, because while my academics were great and my character is fine, I was never a popular kid. But it was fun to go to the local amusement park one school day and hang out with some of the popular kids. (Except when we went on the Pirate Ship ride which turned upside down–not my cup of tea).
Well, you certainly don’t need to worry about her in that regard! I understand that a lot of honor roll students are so wrapped up in their identity as “honor roll students” that everything else takes a back seat. Not my mudgirl. She roller skates, skate boards, rides a moped, takes dance classes, and “collects” animals (so far, she has two gerbils, two guinea pigs, a beta and a tarantula!) I have two older daughters, one who’s almost 21, one who just turned 17, and mudgirl is so profoundly different from either of the first two! My oldest was always concerned with doing whatever would produce the most fun at any given moment, and damn the consequences (I think she still doesn’t grok the whole “consequences” thing), while my second daughter agonizes over every little thing, and “nervous” is her default setting. My youngest, OTOH, is dedicated to making the most of whatever she’s doing, whether it’s working or playing. She’s something of a tomboy, and competitive by nature, and she’s just such a neat kid! (My 17YO is really neat, too, just in a totally different way; she and I have a very similar sense of humor, she’s miles away from being a “typical teenager”, she’s borderline brilliant, and basically just a severely cool kid).
For specifics, refer to above comments!
Really, the whole idea behind having her at all was the hubby wanted to “try one more time for a boy”. Obviously, it didn’t work that way, but she’s so much like her father (adrenaline junkie, anyone?) that I often tease him that she’s the “son he always wanted”! Neither of my two older girls would ever have taken up skateboarding or asked for a tarantula for Christmas!
norinew, whyfor do you think mudgirl is too young to be a Doper? Sounds like she already is - and good for her! Just keep 'er out of the Pit until she’s…oh…twelve or so.
I’d love to set up a playdate with her and my niece, who is about the right age, and a reckless intellectual. Once, when she was 3, she figured out that she could solve ANY jigsaw puzzle, simply by the application of scissors. “She’ll go far,” said her grampaw.
Knowing, as I do, that kids are very washable, I just let her have fun. Pictures were taken (and linked to in the corresponding threads!) and she’s been mudgirl ever since!