United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

just need to vent ..just having a rough day I have to decide if i want my son to repeat first grade and it is such a tough choice he falls behind cant keep up with the others ..I just feel like why cant things be easy for him its bad enough he feels differnt from the other kids i just want his life to be easy and i feel so bad he has such a long road ahead of him ..it hurts sorry for the whinning

I'm sorry he's having such a rough time =( If he is struggling, though, I'd let him stay back and go at his own place. Maybe it would be better for him to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. I'm sure he's a bright little boy who needs some time to catch up. My husband was like that in school. He was held back and still struggled a little. Now he's an MIT graduate (sorry, had to brag a little). So please don't worry, just let him take the time he needs and I'm sure he'll blossom in his own time.

i held my oldest girl, 9 now and nonbpi, back in kindergarten. I just felt that she wasnt ready, it didnt bother her at all. Hope things go better for you!

Everybody needs to vent, no apologizes needed. I am a teacher. What I see is that if a kid is really trying and needs to repeat a grade it can actually be a self esteem builder in K and 1st graders. It is like they are a step ahead of everyone and knows whats coming next as the second time through goes much easier for them. It is hard as a parent and honestly as a teacher to say a child needs to repeat a grade but many times it is the best choice. Good Luck and remeber as hard as it seems nobody has the "leave it to beaver" life. YOur kiddo is so lucky because you care, you watch, and you worry. Sadly to many little guys out there don't have that.

Hi Ramona, I am glad Cara brough this post up, or I would have missed it.

I honestly suprised my oldest daughters first grade teacher, when I was the one that demanded my child repeat first grade.

A few weeks into first grade I realized there was a problem and I asked that she be returned to kindergarten. The teacher said IT COULDN'T BE DONE. So she went through the entire 1st grade. One week before school was to end for the year, she started crying every morning and did not want to go to school. So I went in to speak to the teacher and asked if something was going on at school because suddenly it was a battle to get her on the bus at 7am. (Much to my ex-mother in law's dismay my children were always home and in bed by 8pm, because of that early early bus.)

The teacher replied, well you probably already know that she just quits in the afternoon and isn't really here with us. I said, no I had no way of knowing that and since her report card had all A's & B's or S's, I had no way of knowing. I repeated my request that I had made at the biginning of first grade, now at the END of first grade. She still said NO, I am planning on passing her on to 2nd grade. I COULDN'T BELEIVE MY EARS. Except this time I DEMANDED she repeat first grade.

The teacher did not agree and said I had to come in the next day and meet with the Principal. Fortunately, having time to sleep on it the teacher changed her mind and my oldest did repeat first grade.

As Clara said, my oldest felt so much better. Years and years later when we talked about it she said "Mom, I didn't belong in that other class, I fit better with the class I am in now. It was fun to repeat first grade, because I already knew everything and I got to be the teachers helper" For us repeating 1st grade was a non issue after the deed was done.

Well, I can't help but brag either. That child will soon to be age 25, and Graduated with her Bachelors of Animal Science in 2003 and will graduate in 2007 with her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine.

for us homeschooling allowed me to tailor make his learning so he could progress- I could give him the help he needed in the areas he needed and we powered ahead where he had definite strengths. We found plenty of opportunity for socialization when the school day was done and he blossomed - he then entered mainstream school in grade four.