My son!

[Heather]

I am proud of all of my boys, but Evan has really made me a proud parent.  With all of the troubles the school has given me over him, I was utterly shocked at his awards ceremony.  They gave awards for perfect attendance then 2 good citzenship awards, 2 reading awards, and then 2  Leadership awards for Kindergarten.  Tell me how a child that is so bad he needs medication managed to obtain the Leadership Boy award for the entire kindergarten class?  He was voted on by all of the Kindergarten teachers.  They explained to me that Evan was always willing to assist other kids.  He got in trouble one day for being gone to the bathroom too long until the teacher realized he had escorted a lost little boy to the nurses office.  They told me how helpful he is in assisting the kids that are struggling with their work.  They said that it keeps him busy to help out so they have let him help all year.  Below is a link to the pics of his award. 

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=77531752&albumId=2790604

Heather
aka proud Momma

[mjbgalt]

that's worth more than an academic or sports award any day.

-Matt

[slim rem 7]

a good solid family is what he has.. that will possibly get him through the teen yrs.... when kids face so much more temtation , than when i was a boy.. teach him to give faith a chance as the country song says an let him dance.. he ll be fine an has my prayers ,,along with prayers for my own kids today..slim..

[Cement Man]

Yup, that's the most precious award one can get.  Bravo!

I have a nephew that just amazes me with his good-heartedness and concern for others.  He lives in Florida, I'm in Illinois, so I see him only a few times a year - but we are "best buddies".  He was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age and I have always thought it was poppycock.  He was kept from sugar and given ritalin (and who knows what else).

When we'd go camping, fishing, and shooting together, I used to wonder how a kid could be so good and helpful - and he wasn't taking that medicine and he was eating sugar.  One year he bought two "glow in the dark" huge lollipops at cub scout camp in Florida, and brought them up to Illinois for a "special treat" at our campfire. I have no use for candy like that, but what the heck, he brought the "big treat" for me so I licked that lousy sickening lollipop for two hours till it was gone.  (I'd rather be having a Budweiser or two!)  My nephew finished his 5 millions grams of sugar and no ritalin and we enjoyed a fine and calm conversation around the fire.  He hit the sleeping bag and slept like a baby all night. According to what I'd been told he should have been howling at the moon with eyes bugged out and bouncing off the trees. I wondered how they come up wth these diagnoses.

Congrats to Evan and proud Momma!

[DalesCarpentry]

Congrats to Evan. You guys sure look proud. Dale

[dw06]

Thats great! Tell Evan congrats for me.

[Questor]

Okay, okay, Heather. You should be proud of your son. He's obviously off to a good start. And he did good things.

But just pause for a moment to take some credit for being a good mom. It's difficult, thoughtful, and careful work shepherding those kids through life and when you see them doing good, particularly at such a young age, the parents have had a lot to do with it.

Good job!

[Heather]

Thank you gentleman for you kind words.  I know most of you aren't really interested in what my kids are doing, but I appreciate you taking the time to boost a childs and my ego.  Evan is reading this thread with me and he thinks it is AMAZING that you guys are proud of him as well.  Questor I can't take all of the credit for Evan's accomplishments.  His Daddy Matt has a lot to do with his desire to help others.  Matt has taught him since Bradley was a baby that as a big brother he has a lot of responsiblity.  He has stressed the imporntance of taking care of and watching out for those who are smaller or weaker.  By the time Wyatt came along, Evan really had a grasp of what he could do to help me with the babies.  I think that has a lot to do with why Evan is so helpful with the other students.

Heather

[Questor]

Heather:

Just keep up the good work. Mine are 14 and 16 years old, and we can soon see the day when they will have to leave home. It's a sad but necessary thing. Enjoy them while you can, and do what it takes to have them turn out good.

My wife is a teacher, and she insisted that both of our kids be in band class as soon as possible. For them it meant piano lessons from a local lady starting at age 6 and starting band class in middle school (6th grade in these parts, also called junior high). Her observation over the years was that the best kids are often band kids. This turns out to be true when you see the great number of high school band kids who are A students and have letters of achievement and other awards. I think this is because band is the last bastion of corporal punishment in the school system. If the kids don't learn their notes then there is peer pressure against them and criticism from the teacher. I think this teaches them to be team players and to be responsible for their work.

Even if you don't like music and, like me, don't think much of a musical education, you should consider music and band for your kids. It really worked well for us. 

[Redtail1949]

Seems to me he has the makings of a "Real Man"

[no guns here]

Heather,
     Just because we are on GBO doesn't mean we (for the most part I'm sure) aren't caring brothers, fathers, grandfathers and possibly even great-grandfathers.  As such, we do care about kids and largely, we revel in their successes and have concern for their failures.  I find it heartening that so many folks DO share their families problems and successes here.  I know that very few of us have ever met face-to-face and most likely we never will meet.  Though I don't believe that you can know someone very well when you only correspond in writing, I do think that over time you can get a pretty good sense of their personality and their trustworthy-ness.  The fact that you are willing to share means that in some small way you respect and trust the opinions of most of the members here.  That means a lot to us all.  I know it does to me.  For some of us, it is a point of pride to be known here as "good guy" or someone that can be trusted.  Maybe in some ways even more so here than in our daily lives.
     Keep up the good work raising those kids...  We all have our challenging times.  The reward comes in the end (at least that's what I've been told).

Sincerely,
No Guns Here

[Hodr]

The worst problem our son had in school was getting bored.  He did not get enough to tax his capabilities.  Had recomendations for meds from teachers and pediatrician and we hesitated.  At that time we had a physician assistant join our medical group (retired senior navy corpsman)  His opinion was Allen just didn't have enough to challenge him.  We were fortunate to have a really aggressive Scout program in our area, and a leader who poured responsibility on him.  Total result was a kid who made Eagle Scout, turned 18, graduated from high school, and moved out on his own all in the same week.  He has had good times and bad times since he went on his own 10 years ago, but he has never looked back and walks his own road at his own pace, to this day.

blindhari

[BBF]

I'm concerned with all the info I read in regards of kids getting medicated for all kinds of stuff I wonder, does he really need it. Have you checked that out  with several MD's.?

[SHOOTALL]

Heather , Get his IQ checked he may need more of a challenge than he is getting .
Sounds like a great son .

[Questor]

I don't know about the IQ part. My IQ is 198 (i.e., ultra super genius), but that's because I used to work IQ tests like most people work crossword puzzles. IQ tests can be a learned skill.

Better, I think, to gauge whether he's got some bandwidth to do more, and then add church classes or extra-curriculars (like piano) if he can handle the extra load.

[SHOOTALL]

Do ya think he sits around reading IQ test at his age ?

[Questor]

No, I think IQ tests are worthless and I have no respect for them.

[SHOOTALL]

I feel they are a tool and with other supporting test , imformation and such are helpful.