Tuesday 23 July 2013

What's It All About, Alfie?




Hello to you! How are we today?

It's Alfie's last day at primary school today. Another milestone. He's ready to move on to secondary school. More than ready in fact, especially if recent 'king pin' behaviour is anything to go by. Thank goodness he behaves himself at school. A cracking report, and off the scale Sat's results suggest that he is diligent and works hard at school. He is a clever boy. He is competitive too, and seems to have inherited a fear of failure that runs in the family.

The counsellor in me sees a boy who struggles with his place in the world. Desperate to be all grown up, but still a little boy at heart. He often feels over-looked or unimportant, and this makes him unhappy. His unhappiness makes him lash out at times.

What does his Mum see? I'll be honest with you. Lately, he isn't very nice to be around, and I'm kind of dreading six weeks of running the gauntlet with him. We have had to be tough parents for the past couple of weeks. It's draining, and at the moment we can't see any positive results from it. I just hope that our laid back plans for summer holiday fun will restore a bit of balance to Alfie.

He is a great kid. A brilliant brother to Olly. A brilliant brother to Sam, if Sam would only let him.

Sigh.


Nursery sports day

First day at Infant School

Alfie and Sam (just before Olly)

Alfie playing rugby

Alfie with his first judo tab. He is now a green belt

Alfie and a two hour old Olly

Alfie and Olly rubbing noses

Alfie & Olly hanging out last summer holidays

Alfie driving the fishing boat

Alfie























Excuse the indulgence.

Alfie drives me crazy most of the time. We are like oil and water. But I look at these pictures, and he melts me. That expressive face of his. Those beautiful eyes. That twinkle within them.

Onwards and upwards Alf. Here's to a great summer holiday!



With love,

Mum xx


6 comments:

  1. He is such a handsome boy. All of your boys are. This is a big event for him. I hope the transition goes smoothly and that you have a calm summer break with him.

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  2. I hope this summer break proves to be a pleasant surprise, and that you and Alfie find something you both love that you can do together. Is he a reader? Maybe you could start reading a good book together. Whatever it is, I hope you are able to discover some common ground that makes for an easy and wonderful summer holiday.

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  3. A very special milestone xxx lots of fun ahead I hope. When one of my children went through a hideous stage I used to pretend they were invisible. It always seemed as if they were on a self fulfilling phrophesy and we would spiral down together and end up in a horrible pit . But if I really ignored them they missed me .. I think .... Maybe... But at least we stayed fairly calm until they were ready to share some common ground. Usually asking them to be totally in charge of something like repairing a picnic or compiling a pizza worked which ave me the arena for praise again xxx

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  4. Sorry about typo errors that should read preparing a picnic and it gave me the arena for praise again x

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  5. What a special day! As I start as a Nursery Teacher in September I'm looking forward to sharing the start of a child's school life with the parents. I hear that boys are more of a challenge around the primary/secondary school transition time but soon calm down. People have said that it is the girls who are fine to about 12 and then get to 13 and it's downhill to 18. I just hope I wasn't like that! Hope Alfie has a fab summer! x

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  6. I have one of those. He's 9, and we are so utterly different and we don't always get along. We seem to make each other so cross at times. But oh how I love him and how proud he makes me. We have happy moments in the mornings before everyone else wakes up, while there is no-one else to compete with. The end of primary school must be a very big wrench. I hope the transition to secondary school is smooth for him, and that you all have a very wonderful summer before then.

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