We had a not-so-good dropoff experience with Wesley this morning because he was being grumpy, whiny, pouty, and trantrumy right up to the point when all parents are expected to leave the premise. I think the head teacher got sick of the scene (after 15 or so minutes of him basically throwing a fit like he did in his swim class) and said… “Wesley, this is ridiculous. How can you be a leader when you are behaving this way. You need to let your mom go to work”. Wesley was already starting to smile when I told him of all the fun things he’s going to do that I don’t get to do at work, but when she said that, the quasi-smile on his face dropped back into a pout instantly. Uh oh, I thought… my efforts have just gone down the drain (well, not that it was gonna guarantee success but at least I was trying my best to curtail his moods without having to put up a fight), and even though I realize that the teacher was just doing her job to make sure I get out the door in time for start of class, I couldn’t help but think that her statement was also a reflection on my parenting skills. Wesley’s other teacher finally came to pull him away from me so I could leave and of course Wesley started to bawl. I don’t even want to imagine the scene that followed but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty. Alex warned me of Wesley’s crying/grumpiness at dropoff last week, but until I experienced it for myself I had not known the extent of the problem. Anyways, for the remainder of my drive to work, these title questions resurfaced in my head as it always does when any kind of child-crisis emerge. Looks like it’s time for some self-reflection again on the part of us parents.