D-Man

I always open Reed's take-home folder from school with anticipation. I wonder what I will discover about my preschooler from what he does when he's away from me. They work with a new letter each week, do a variety of activity worksheets, and have Show-and-Tell for that letter on Fridays (besides going to the School Library, Music Class, Art Class, and Gym Class.)

Last week was "D" and I chuckled when I saw his Uppercase D worksheet. I asked Reed to tell me about it. He replied, "That's D-Man!" I loved it. D-Man was so cute, but I had to know more, so I asked if the teacher told him to draw him. "No." Hmm, well did any of the other kids draw a letter guy? "No."

I thought it was incredibly creative and cute. I told him that I really, really liked him.

The "D" Worksheet

The Irresistible D-Man

This week was "Ee" week and when the "E" Worksheet came home I realized that one of two things was happening. Either my positive praise and enthusiasm had encouraged the continued creation of new "letter men" or I have a natural-born doodler.  I don't know why I didn't expect to see "E-Man." Then I started to worry, in true motherly fashion. While I love the creativity, have I encouraged him to be a distracted student?

You can chuckle. It's okay; I realize how silly it is to dwell on this when he is only in preschool. It is just something for me to ponder. The power of parents' praise is strong. What we praise shows our kids what we value. Yes, I value creativity...but not distraction from education. But am I ready to stifle his creativity for the possibility of its distraction? No way, not yet. For now, he'll get an occasional reminder to always listen to the teacher and if "F-Man" or "G-Man" happens to show up and they are particularly cute then yeah, I'll say so.