A stage for a maturing child to perform

At 5:20, I was 5 minutes late. I ran quickly to my eldest daughter’s classroom. This meeting was only 15 minutes out of my day, but for her, it was really important. Several days before, she had written us a letter to invite us to this special 1:1 parent – teacher meeting. She informed me that she was going to lead and present during the meeting. I guessed there was something special at school that my stubborn 8-year-old daughter had been involved in. 

The room was large and bright with horizontal rows of tables. There was only the meeting table arranged in vertically. My girl and her teacher were sitting on one side, and the other was for parents. My seven-month-old girl sat stubbornly rubbing her hand in her stroller, seemingly not paying any attention to what was going on. The screen showed a PowerPoint frame with my daughters academic results, her self-assessment of her strengths, weaknesses, favorite subjects and so on.

She had wisely targeted low results compared to what she had gotten in this semester. She looked so confident as she presented a plan to change her habits, which included sleeping earlier and arriving at school punctually, and spending more time on Maths – a subject that she was not that interested in. “I can do it, maybe a little bit more than that.” “I do not need any more support from you, mom and dad.” She answered the questions after her presentation.

The whole meeting was like a family meeting, but my girl was in the leading role. It was very special. “This is such a great conversation,” the teacher finally interrupted. Communication with the teacher had not really been necessary until that time because all the relevant information was sent via email and text messages. But this moment was the stage for a person who was willing to perform. Vinschool has given my child an important position, an independent personality, and she is now doing very well with such a strong foundation from her school.

Vu Anh Quan – Father of 3A10 student