My son has survived his first term of Big School. He seems to be enjoying it. The other day we were talking about hobbies and he told me his was learning, which made my heart melt. He loves School and frequently gets his Sound book out to tell me which letters he has learned that day. His writing is coming on really well and I was able to look through his books at Parents evening and see he had drawn a picture of him as an artist, something he wants to be when he’s grown up.
He keeps coming home and telling me about his day and his new friends who don’t always seem that kind. He said a couple of the boys poked him with sticks and I immediately started worrying that he was getting picked on by his new ‘friends’ and wasn’t able to stand up for himself. I have absolutely no idea how to teach him this kind of thing. School teaches him English and Maths but I know I have to teach him things too, such as friendship and loyalty, I’m just not sure how.
This reminds me a little of my local bank. I keep seeing adverts for NatWest who are recognising customer loyalty by not ignoring their existing customers.
I wonder if I can learn from this and share it with my son. Loyalty and fairness are two great qualities to share and perhaps I should suggest he sticks with his older friends who have come up with him from nursery, rather than be swayed by the new boys who shout louder and demand more attention from everyone else? My 4 year old is a lovely little boy and I want him to treat others well but also demand to be treated well. He deserves respect and loyalty just as much as he should respect his friends and classmates. I hope he finds friends just like him, I think it will set him up well for life.
If you want to find out more about NatWest and their Hello/Goodbye campaign, why not check out this funny fairness experiment video from them. They are waving goodbye to best offers aimed only at new customers while excluding their existing customers. They’ve also said goodbye to those 0% teaser rates which end up costing more in the long run and saying sayonara to the practice of hiding the best deals online.
I’m working with BritMums and NatWest on this project and have been compensated. All opinions are my own.
Aw, that picture and writing is so sweet. Yes, so hard to know how to teach the non academic side of things, especially when you’re not there to see everything that goes on.
How lovely that he is so interested in learning and already has an idea of what he wants to be one day. There is so much to learn at school in the first few years and I’m sure he’ll make lots of good friends along the way