So thankful that parent teacher conferences are over!

Brett and I

I'm so relieved to say we are done with parent teacher conferences!  This year has brought a role reversal for my boys.  In past years it has always been Kyle's parent teacher conference that had me sweating bullets.  Brett has always been my mellow easy going kid and up until this year I was never apprehensive in the slightest about his conferences.  I'm very lucky to have two absolutely wonderful children with hearts of gold, but I also know my boys aren't perfect!  My boys are also like night and day, just ask their teachers.   I guess I just never expected the night and day to flip!

Kyle (my youngest) has finally begun to focus his energy level (thank heaven for everyone around!).  His conference was basically a replay of Brett's conference last year.  I found myself reminding myself which child we were talking about.  (One of these days I'll have to write a post about his first trip to the Principal's office for the spit-ball incident...)

But this year it was Brett's conference that (no kidding) had me anxious beyond belief.  I found myself taking deep breaths before walking in to the classroom.  Third grade has been an adjustment for all of us.  It's caused me to question many things because Brett has struggled and it breaks my heart as a Mom.  Up until this year his enthusiasm for learning and for school was infectious for everyone around him.  Seeing that fade has me frantically trying to figure out how to buffer the transition for him.  As a working Mom I'm just worried that I'm not doing enough or am just plain missing something.  I'm just trying to maintain the perspective that this is just one year of school and not setting a precedence for the rest of his life.  I worry that with all the budget cuts that have caused massive increases in class size, that more and more is falling on the shoulders of parents to step in because the teachers just don't have time to give individual attention anymore.

Don't get me wrong, Brett's conference was fine overall, but this has been the first year we really had a list of things that he needed to improve on.  I found myself overwhelmed with the realization of how much more time is required of parents now to work with their kids after school hours now to supplement the lesson plans in school.

I guess I can just add one more task to my plate in my never ending quest to be Super Mom in the eyes of my kids.  Do you have any juggling or other tips to share that have worked well for your families?