Nothing nice

I'm sure we've all heard it before. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I've heard it since I was little and now have said it more times than I can count.

Lauren got her one of her numerous report cards (it's special education, we don't do anything halfway). The report card from her regular 1st grade teacher really, really bothered me.

I can't remember exactly what was said on it but I know that it said that Lauren was "peforming well below grade level" and is "extremely unfocused". The narrative also wished her well this summer and told her to have fun in second grade.

There was not one postivite thing said about her. Her teacher could not come up with anything posistive just some generic remarks. And that bothered me a lot. So much that I'm writing about it over three months later.

I get that Lauren is delayed. I know that she is behind. I know that she can't focused. I go home with her everyday and live with her well beyond the 9-4 school day. I see her 365 days a year. I'm not stupid nor naive. I'm not turning a blind eye to the issues that she has. But when they write about what she is not doing, it doesn't surprise me.

But, there is something great about Lauren. There's a lot of great things about Lauren. I fail to see how after having her in a class for 9 months that you couldn't come up with something. I'm not really picky. "Lauren has a great smile." "Lauren has a great memory." Anything would do! This is especially important because at age 7, it is more about me than her.

I did speak to her principal about it. I know that her teacher didn't mean to hurt me. She didn't set out to make me sad about it but she didn't think. The principal did thank me and said he wants his staff to be aware of issues like this.

My friend, Leslie at www.mymommysplace.com, summed it up the best in her back to school haiku. "she may be the dark spot in your day, but she is the bright spot in mine". And that is my Lauren.