Theledge.net

You love homework for some reason. I think you love having a job. Your current teachers seem to promote play in the classroom, so each child can pick a job from the job board, with the idea being that it is fair and that kids can alternate and choose what they want to do.

I see the value in the job board, and I believe that you need to learn how to play, perhaps even more so than other kids. But I often wonder if you would do better in the classroom and have fewer confrontations with your teachers if they would ask you to help them and give you a job.

You have a very strong will. Our general way of molding that will is by letting you make decisions, so that when you use that tremendous will it is guided by some level of experience. Just this evening I asked you if the shirt you were wearing to bed was a pajama shirt. You didn’t answer directly; instead you replied “I prefer to wear this shirt tonight.”

I think the few conflicts you have in your classroom are because you have decided that you want to do something in the absence of any guidance from the teachers. It seems that because you have not been told of a plan or a specific task, you choose to do something that the teachers would prefer you not do.

Obviously, you need to learn to listen to people when they tell you it is not the time to do something. And obviously you need to learn to play. But some days your self-esteem seems a little battered because you have been unable to discern a role in the classroom that is constructive.

But even on those days you are happy. I am amazed at that, and I wish I had a fraction of your where-with-all.