His principal knew we meant business in the open house. I intent to make sure he is top of the class, if we miss the mark oh well we learn from our mistakes.
This generated the following thought vomit.
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
Top of the class can often bring frustration
Long post here.
Be careful or at least be aware.
My youngest was born overseas (I was active duty). As best as they can figure, he contracted “Travelers Disease” in the hospital, and could not tolerate breast milk or any of the available formulas as it resulted in projectile vomiting. After 3 months of him not gaining weight even after having formula shipped from the US, I took leave back to the US and had him seem by a local pediatrician. They immediately admitted him into the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Even if they could identify a formula he could tolerate, the microvilli in his intestines had been worn down so he could not absorb anything. They took a biopsy of his entire digestive system and custom made a formula his body would accept. In order for his body to absorb the formula, he was tube fed (kangaroo pump) the formula down the throat, into his stomach at the rate of one ounce an hour while he slept. To stop him from pulling the tube out and possibly pump formula into his lungs, his arms were splinted straight out. He was 4 months old when this procedure was started and lasted for almost 6 months.
There is a reason for this background. Skip ahead a year. He was finally able to take formula and eventually baby food but he was developmentally behind due him being confined to a crib with his arms strapped outward during a critical time for a child’s development. No crawling around like a normal child. At 18 months, he was still learning to stand much less walk.
Easter weekend we were at my Dad’s place, cooking Easter Dinner. My Son was barely standing up, holding on to one the kitchen chairs seat bottom. He lost his balance and plopped down on the floor but in doing so, drug his hands across the chair seat and proceeded to pull the chair over on himself. The chair had a beveled oval back and that back came down like a cleaver and chopped off his left ring finger just above the top joint. The tip of his finger was just being held on by skin. I flopped the tip back on his finger, wrapped his hand in a towel and we rushed him off to the nearest hospital (20 miles away in rural NE PA). We were blessed as there was a Pediatrician on call and AT the hospital who was able to administer an infant dose of morphine AND a plastic surgeon who specialized in skin grafts. Literally, 30 minutes later we were walking out of the hospital with my Son patched up. His hand was wrapped up for several months to allow his finger to heal.
Again, bear with me as this adds to the following.
That Summer, my organization had a Unit Picnic at a local park. After the picnic, we decided to stay around and walk though the park. Unbeknownst to me, one of the grillers decided to dump the charcoal briquettes away from the grills in the field. My Son was staggering 10 feet behind me as we walked around the lake and walked across the scattered coals. I had walked over them also but did not notice until latter that night when I took my softball spikes off and saw them all melted. My Son was not so lucky as he was in sandals. Once he hit the coals with side of his foot, he went down into them causing 2d and 3rd degree burns on his feet and legs. The saving grace was he used his bandaged hand to help him get out of the coals. I rushed back and tried to wipe the coals off him but some of them had already burned him to the shin bone. I rushed him over to a nearby water spigot and washed his legs off and the rushed him to the ER. He required daily debriding and re-wrapping from his feet to his hips for several months at the local clinic.
In the meantime, the ER was required to report this to the County Social Service for possible child abuse. They came out and after learning of his medical history (all the above), they determined that there was no abuse but were concerned about his development (gross and fine motor skills delayed). County Social Services came out twice a week and worked with him to bring him up to speed.
Within a year, he had exceeded their expectations and they stopped coming. In the meantime, he was learning from his older brother (5 years older) and we found that we could not keep up with his insatiable desire to learn.
We found a local private (Christian) school that would accept kids as young as 4 years old for Kindergarten. We enrolled him and he did wonderful. When it came time to enroll him in public school, they would not recognize him as already attending Kindergarten and put him back in Kindergarten. He was thoroughly frustrated. By 1st grade, he was dumbfounded at his classmates. He was already reading, writing, doing math and was even told that he could not write in cursive as that was above his age.
He became a problem child in class. He was bored. Reading books during class, standing on desks, being disruptive….We talked to his teachers and eventually the Principle but were told that they need to teach to the lowest common denominator. We finally bought home school material and gave the teacher worksheets several years above his age to work on when he completed his in-school work just to keep him engaged. The Teacher stopped that as he was getting even FURTHER ahead of his classmates. We had him tested in 2d grade and he scored at the 4th grade level and in some area at the 5th grade level. We begged the school to allow him to skip a grade but the Principle insisted that it would hurt him on the social level. Finally, in the 4th grade, they allowed him to skip 5th grade, into to 6th grade, moving him out their school (Elementary) into a different school (Middle School). They warned us that he would fail but he excelled, completing HS and eventually going on to college.
Now at 30, he completed his BS in IT Administration and works at a well known brokerage house, married and bought his own house. I guess my word of caution is that being top of class can be a source of frustration when being taught to the lowest denominator. Maybe your schools have a better program but here in the Baltimore/DC area, the barb wire fences point INWARD.
