School Interviews

I had 3-way interviews last night with the girls at school. Instead of a parent-teacher interview they involve the children and they each have a heap of work on the computer that they show you and tell you all about the things they've been learning and what they've had success with. All very warm and fuzzy school of the new millenium stuff!
A couple of things made me laugh during the interviews (and more so afterwards when I was thinking about it). Madame I's teacher (who hasn't been too embracing of the Asperger's thing) said to me "her story writing is quite good, but she really only writes about things that have happened. She needs to be writing creatively - making things up". I actually laughed out loud and suggested that she should have expected this to be the case! She agreed, but I'm not convinced she got the connection. Then she told me that Madame I's resilience has improved a lot during the year. At the beginning of the year if she fell over she would cry quite a bit, but now she's happier to just laugh it off. I suggested to her that this will probably revert back at the start of next year when she has a new teacher, new classmates, new classroom, new everything! Again, she laughed and had a bit of a "I wonder what she's talking about" kind of look on her face. Ah well, we can't all be perfect can we....
Princess S's teacher told me that at the start of the year (and for all of Term 1) she would burst into tears if she had to try something new, and was very emotional. Gee I wish they'd let us know BEFORE TERM 3!!!!!! so that perhaps I could work with my child at home to help build their confidence and 'risk taking' as she called it. Seriously, do they think the kids actually enjoy feeling overwhelmed by everything?!!! I just don't know why something that is so obviously an issue (in that two terms later she's still remembered it) isn't discussed with the parent.
I can see that in the next year or so I might be really tempted to just give up on teachers, and the expectation that they might like to work collaboratively with a parent just for something new. But, for now I'll persevere cos I know they're not all thick, or ignorant! I do know some teachers who are great.
To end on a really nice note, yesterday afternoon we were sitting on a bench outside the chemist waiting for some prescriptions to be made up. We were sitting quietly, just watching the world go by when Madame I says "Mum, I love you". Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! That doesn't happen too often - I could probably count on one hand the number of times she's ever said it without me saying it first. A very sweet moment.