Jolon's class meeting

We had a big meeting last night (3 hours!) where Kachiku Sensei first played the piano and we all sang the Nakayoshi school song. Then she read the book that they're reading this week (Dame, David), which is about a boy doing things which makes his Mom shout,"Dame, David"-- "Stop that, David). David is pictured knocking things over and then cowering in the corner, picking his nose, running in the street naked with all his clothes on his head, etc. Then Ibuki Sensei gave us an overview of the year---what the major functions were each month (Rooftop pool in July and August, Sports Day in October, Making Mochi Festival in Dec., Rhythm performance next Feb., etc.) Then she went back over some of the rules (parents need to be sure and sign in/out, the kids should be carrying their own bags, how to sign out in the evenings when we pick up the kids in the park, etc.) She showed us samples of the kind of canteens we should be sending for field trips, what kind of aprons are the best, and the right kinds of swimsuits and swimming caps. She talked about some of the developmental changes. For example most of the kids are now able to do two things at once. Last year mealtime was very quiet....the kids were all busy eating; this year they can talk and eat at the same time and mealtime is noisy. Being able to run and jump at the same time, they can skip properly. And they can hold the paper in one hand and cut with the other. Most of the boys are kicking and punching and the girls are over in the corner talking about them and telling on them. The last part of the meeting was devoted to giving each Mom a chance to say something about her own child. Most mothers mentioned something they were worried about and also related a funny story or two. Several people said they and their husbands were disagreeing on how to discipline and this was causing problems. Most of the moms of boys, including me, talked about how much energy their boys had and how they seemed so active. I've been reading a book called Raising Boys, and I shared how I'd read that at around age 4, boys get a huge surge of testosterone. This means that they suddenly exhibit more of a tendency towards punching, kicking, and using their bodies to express their emotions. Interestingly, the testosterone level is cut in half by about age 5 1/2. It was nice to hear what's on the minds of other Moms with kids the same age. And at this point most of us have been together for 3 or 4 years and we're getting quite close. The time really flew and although it was a school meeting on a Monday night, I was very happy to be there. The teachers had written a little blurb about each child. From what Jan and I could understand they said that Jolon is very powerful! and can pick up all of the chairs in his small group of 4 at once. He loves to help and so his self-appointed job at meal and snack time is to get and return all 4 chairs (at the same time). They also wrote that he loves his friends.