Musical?

[scarlett]

My goodness Let's hope they can at least all play a musical instrument ! (Hope it's not the trumpet x5 for your neighbours sake ).

[Fran17]

Um you could recount The Tale of the Small Banana!

[Fran17]

I find it a bit galling when parents posts their children's GCSE or A level results on fb. If people ask how my children have done I just say very well thank you. I only discuss marks with family and a handful of close friends and some EPE friends.

[um]

You sure you want the tears over the banana/stingy school receptionist tale again?
The worst thing is I had to go into reception again a few weeks ago and there were boxes of tangerines this time

The only thing worse than the GCSE results sagas is the posting/talking about 11 plus results in Birmingham.

It has been awful this year. I will steadfastly refuse to tell ds2 his results because it SERIOUSLY doesn't matter. But I guess there'll be a lot of boys wanting to discuss it on induction day

ds1 says the top boy in his class now was actually 5 marks off the last score and got in on appeal...

[scarlett]

Um...the boys aren't that bothered...my DS keeps forgetting what his score was and says he did ask the boys in his new school , but they couldn't remember either and that was that. It's definitely a parent thing. I had to sit in the park after school on my own waiting for a friend , whilst an annoying mother sat next to me loudly announcing the levels on her son's report card.My cheeks are still aching after all that false smiling and nodding. Oh how I wished DS1 was with me so I could rip his earphones off him and plug myself in to oblivion .

[Fran17]

Oh dear um your poor little son. I hope he wasn't tempted to ask for a tangerine. I suspect the scary office lady frightened him off! You are right the tale was a sad one, but if I remember rightly the thread turned out to be very amusing.

As for eleven plus marks, I didn't tell mine their marks either, it seemed irrelevant to me at the time as it wouldn't have meant anything to them. I agree with scarlett, my middle DS said a couple of boys asked him but he said he didn't know, and most of the other boys couldn't remember what their marks were. Youngest, who is now in year 8, never mentioned it so it probably didn't come up.

Scarlett, I laughed when I read about the lady wanting to tell you her DCs levels. I bumped into a lady my younger son used to go to school with, shortly after my eldest sons' AS results had arrived. She asked me whether any of mine had received any results and I said that my eldest had. She then went on to ask how he had done. I replied that he was very pleased. She then persisted in asking me in several different ways how he had done in order to find out his grades. I just said he was very happy. I have never understood people's fascination with the GCSE and A level grades of children they hardly know. What if my son hadn't done very well? Why would I want to talk about that to someone I hardly know? If I wanted to do that I would come on here!

[Amber]

I know a parent who reads out her middle child's effort and achievement grades in the playground after every report (child is in Year 2 and covers itself in glory every time).. Then points out to its sibling that 'yours can't be as good as X's.' As well as being nauseatingly insensitive and a gross overestimate of outside interest in her DB (sorry, no other word for the child except the four letter one which rhymes with 'drat'), it is also a form of child abuse for the unfortunate sibling. Grr.

[Rob Clark]

Fran, of course what you have to realise is that these people aren’t interested in your DC’s results, they merely want to create an opening to loudly proclaim their own DC’s results. After all, nobody asks this question if their own DC’s results were not great… Don’t play their game, avoid at all costs saying “and how did little Johnny/Janey do?”

Amber, that’s awful! We have some close friends whose younger DC is much, much brighter than its sibling despite a 5-year age gap. The poor parents spend a lot of time trying not to let either child realise this.

[Amber]

Amber, that’s awful! We have some close friends whose younger DC is much, much brighter than its sibling despite a 5-year age gap. The poor parents spend a lot of time trying not to let either child realise this.

Well just as well, I say...because what this fond mother does not seem to see is that the sibling has a far nicer personality than its illustrious womb mate, which in turn is becoming what you might expect as the product of having such worship laid at its altar...a spoilt little horror with an inflated idea of its own brilliance.

Ps...why 'despite a 5 year age gap?' Do such age gaps usually lead to inferior intelligence then? (Quickly counts age gaps of own progeny on fingers...)

[Rob Clark]

Sorry, obviously wasn’t clear. Younger child isn’t brighter for its age, but actually brighter, ie can do maths and understand words that older sibling cannot.

It’s actually a bit of a nightmare for all concerned because as you say it doesn’t do any favours to any of the people involved…