Self Belief Award

Self Belief Award

My son excelled himself last Wednesday.  He really showed that he can surprise even himself.  He won a Self Belief Award and I could not be any prouder of him right now.

Monkey doesn’t like sports.  He appears to be taking after Daddy P, rather than me and my side of the family.  He wouldn’t join in with his school Sports Day last year at all and every Thursday you can tell that he really isn’t looking forward to school and the dreaded PE lesson.

We received a letter home from school a few weeks ago telling us that the children had the opportunity to take part in a Multi Skills event at the local leisure centre.  The teacher had obviously been talking to the children about it, as before I’d even opened Monkey’s book bag I got ‘Mummy I don’t want to go to that thing, I don’t have to go you know’.  Bless him, I knew what he meant as soon as I read the form.  But Monkey, it would be good to go and try, and you’ll be with all your friends.  No I am not going, I am not going to school that day, and then the tears began to flow.

We had a long chat about the situation but I could tell he was not for budging.  Look, I’ll talk to your teacher and see what she says.  I’m not sure that not going is an option Monkey, and I think it would be really good for you to try.  No! No! No!

I emailed his teacher and explained his feelings, whilst also making it clear that I didn’t want him to be excluded from the event, but that he might need some coaxing.  She’s been very good with Monkey since he started in Year One, and she and rest of the team at school have really helped him come out of his shell.  Her skills were needed again.  No problem, she wanted him to go too, and she would have a chat with him and come up with a ‘special job’ for him.

He came home from school the next day, having spoken to his teacher, he still wasn’t happy.  I’m doing a special job but I’m not taking part, Mummy, I’m not.  Ok Monkey.

So last Wednesday came around all too quickly, Monkey had spent the evening before telling me how much he didn’t want to go to the event.  Yep, I felt like the worst mother ever.  Was I pushing him into a situation that he would truly hate?  This parenting lark is never easy.  He had to go to school in his PE kit, but seemed to take that in his stride.  All looking positive.  He went into school ok – phew.

Then came the long wait until 3.15pm, how had his day gone?  Would there be tears?  As I was waiting to pick him up, his teacher came out and came over to me.  My heart sank, and I think she could see I was expecting the worst.  He has been brilliant, he joined in with EVERYTHING, he even had to stand up in front of everyone to receive a Self Belief Award, he was fab.

Wow! Oh wow!  Yes, you know me, I was fighting back the tears, relief and pride in equal measures.  Then there he was, my reluctant sportsmen, clinging on to his certificate.  What I hadn’t quite grasped beforehand was that it wasn’t just Monkey’s year that went to the event.  There were children there from 3 other local schools.  Double wow!

Project 366 2016 Week 6

 

Monkey isn’t always the best at sharing information, but whilst he was reluctant to talk about the award, he showed off the new jump he’d learnt and happily chatted away about the fun, yes, fun he’d had.  Blimey.  This little boy has amazed me yet again.  His knee jerk reaction to a lot of things is No, I won’t like it, but I’m hoping he’s realising that it’s ok to be a bit worried about something, a little scared, but that it’s also ok to try, to venture out into the unknown and give things a go.

 

12 thoughts on “Self Belief Award

  1. That’s lovely! I was just like Monkey with sports, sports day & school events – I always avoided as much as I could, so I think it is great that he pushed himself! #SSAmazingAchievements

  2. Very well done to him! It must have been a worry for you, but I’m so glad he took part and did so well. It seems completely alien to me that kids wouldn’t like sport as this is never a problem we’ve had in our house!

  3. Bless him! I’m so glad he enjoyed it 🙂 my son’s first reaction to be asked to do/go somewhere is generally always NO. Sometimes you have to give them a push to do things and they always surprise us and more importantly themselves by how much they enjoy it.

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