Finally I am able to log in to pen down my thoughts! Well, this is that inspirational moment and I had to save it and freeze it into words to cherish it later. Whatever it takes!
Having an October born baby was not easy for us parents. No doubt, that it's a great time of the year with crisp air and beautiful sunset hue all around. However when kid starts going to school in New Jersey, thats when we caught the bug of 'kid being left behind' symptoms. All districts schools (alright...most) in NJ have the cut off date in the end of September.
And coming from a family in India where School is held supreme, one of the most important thing in child development and learning phase is 'time to finish'. I had that tinge what most Indian parents would think of. And when spoken back home, hearing the term 'Oh no, he will waste 1 year', was very disheartening.
So, being a normal resident Indian mother in NJ we did have a thought about Tanay being left behind by 1 year.
There was a constant debate in our house for several months about whether to push Tanay into next academic curriculum via another means.
Every school going kid's parent that we met said it is better to follow the cut off date than not and there are more benefits than loss, We read several articles, several theories and lucky enough we got to see a 60 minutes episode on CBS about 'Red Shirting' phenomenon. They explained that schools do that so their performance goes up. Whichever way, if the performance goes up, that's what we want. Also it indicated that it is not stressful in daily life on the child and on us to if we decide not to push him through.
We had all the support in the small talk exchanged in the elevators, And then finally made the decision with our gut feeling and followed the cut off date.
I remember the time when Esh and I made our decision to register Tanay to Kindergarten for Piscataway Schools, based on our address location, he would be on the register of 'Grandview Elementary school'. I took Tanay for Admission process and he was playing all the time while I was finishing up the paperwork. And after all the process got completed the lady in the Admission office said "Congratulations, you are all set! Year 2025 is when he graduates from school."
And my eyes had all welled up... Year 2025! wow... if for all that hurry and pushing it would still be year 2024!!! so much for that 1 year??? Time between 2012-2025 seemed very long. But 2012-2024 seemed no less!! .
He was playing away in the area. I took him back home, thinking of year 2025 all the way as I drove. It was overwhelming.
And I was glad. We were glad. For Tanay it made no difference. Then.
It has made difference for him today, It has made difference for us today. I had my first parent-teacher conference last night in this new school and it was after a hectic work day. I went straight from office to school for 7:45 PM conference. It was end of the day and it was last conference for her. I was exhausted and I thought his teacher Ms Fevola might be exhausted too. But I was immediately proven wrong when she greeted with me with her enthusiastic smile. And as I spoke to her, my weariness wore off. She had nothing but praises for Tanay, and I got really excited. She said he is doing great and is such a great kid. She mentioned he got all the confidence that a child needs and is very much focused. It seems he loves and is lost in the Magic Tree chapter books of Jack and Annie. I felt proud. She also mentioned about his drawing and his reading skills, apparently he is at 2nd grade level's reading. I was swelling with pride.
And.... I was just short of tears as I listened to her.
So much for that lost year but so much will be gained in these 13 years.
So proud of you my boy, Shine on ....
Love you forever, in this happy moment and always.
Having an October born baby was not easy for us parents. No doubt, that it's a great time of the year with crisp air and beautiful sunset hue all around. However when kid starts going to school in New Jersey, thats when we caught the bug of 'kid being left behind' symptoms. All districts schools (alright...most) in NJ have the cut off date in the end of September.
And coming from a family in India where School is held supreme, one of the most important thing in child development and learning phase is 'time to finish'. I had that tinge what most Indian parents would think of. And when spoken back home, hearing the term 'Oh no, he will waste 1 year', was very disheartening.
So, being a normal resident Indian mother in NJ we did have a thought about Tanay being left behind by 1 year.
There was a constant debate in our house for several months about whether to push Tanay into next academic curriculum via another means.
Every school going kid's parent that we met said it is better to follow the cut off date than not and there are more benefits than loss, We read several articles, several theories and lucky enough we got to see a 60 minutes episode on CBS about 'Red Shirting' phenomenon. They explained that schools do that so their performance goes up. Whichever way, if the performance goes up, that's what we want. Also it indicated that it is not stressful in daily life on the child and on us to if we decide not to push him through.
We had all the support in the small talk exchanged in the elevators, And then finally made the decision with our gut feeling and followed the cut off date.
I remember the time when Esh and I made our decision to register Tanay to Kindergarten for Piscataway Schools, based on our address location, he would be on the register of 'Grandview Elementary school'. I took Tanay for Admission process and he was playing all the time while I was finishing up the paperwork. And after all the process got completed the lady in the Admission office said "Congratulations, you are all set! Year 2025 is when he graduates from school."
And my eyes had all welled up... Year 2025! wow... if for all that hurry and pushing it would still be year 2024!!! so much for that 1 year??? Time between 2012-2025 seemed very long. But 2012-2024 seemed no less!! .
He was playing away in the area. I took him back home, thinking of year 2025 all the way as I drove. It was overwhelming.
And I was glad. We were glad. For Tanay it made no difference. Then.
It has made difference for him today, It has made difference for us today. I had my first parent-teacher conference last night in this new school and it was after a hectic work day. I went straight from office to school for 7:45 PM conference. It was end of the day and it was last conference for her. I was exhausted and I thought his teacher Ms Fevola might be exhausted too. But I was immediately proven wrong when she greeted with me with her enthusiastic smile. And as I spoke to her, my weariness wore off. She had nothing but praises for Tanay, and I got really excited. She said he is doing great and is such a great kid. She mentioned he got all the confidence that a child needs and is very much focused. It seems he loves and is lost in the Magic Tree chapter books of Jack and Annie. I felt proud. She also mentioned about his drawing and his reading skills, apparently he is at 2nd grade level's reading. I was swelling with pride.
And.... I was just short of tears as I listened to her.
So much for that lost year but so much will be gained in these 13 years.
So proud of you my boy, Shine on ....
Love you forever, in this happy moment and always.
