What I Would Do

A few more thoughts post the post on parents doing kids' projects.

At school, we had SUPW & Craft as a subject- one that was graded A, B etc and not added to the total marks in ranking- thank God for that.

Because I was really bad. Every year we would get ambitious craft projects which I would find impossible to finish. I would take them religiously to school and work laboriously on them but finally, it would be completed by my Mom.

The teacher would grade me abysmally because of course she would judge that I haven't done it- considering the horrible, knotty, thready job at one end and a neat finish on the rest of the work. But then what could I have done?

Here I recall the horror tales of Craft class in school.

In Class 2 I was supposed to make a cross stitch table mat which I did maybe a bit- that got completed by my Mom and survived till recently. In class 4 it was knitting a scarf - I barely managed to complete one band that ties the scarf. Class 7 I did what is displayed below- all by myself- a cross stitch project which was the largest in my class and perhaps the largest project which I did anyday.

Class 8 we were supposed to crochet a shawl- I barely did a couple of lines and submitted my mom's knitted shawl- got graded badly for that- I was even asked to bring a knitting needle and do a sample pattern- I never did it of course and the teacher forgot to follow up with me. During the 2nd term, I did a lovely embroidery on a mosquito net cloth and made a table cloth and 2 side mats- it still is there with me. I got an A for that because the teacher had really seen me work on it.

I remember making 2 sets of table cloths- again partly. And I do remember embroidering a set of cushion covers, a skirt in bright yellow in class 9, which is still there somewhere- I had ironed the design on the cloth and worked really hard at it.

I guess it got easier in the higher classes as long as it was embroidery and cross stitch. But anything else, it would turn out a disaster.

Maybe today as parents we are more open about giving feedback. In today's context we do go up to the teacher and say I think this is too much for my child.

Where as during our student days, the teacher couldn't be crossed. PTA meetings were usually bad news except if you were a good student. And also education or rather schooling has become much more commercialised. A marketing game. The school / teachers have to look good in front of the customers/ parents and the parents have to feel good about the progress the child is making without of course compromising on the actual progress of the child.

In my kids' school, I find a lot of instances of teachers doing projects individually with the kids. There is a lot of hand holding and individual attention as againts our time.

At times I find it impossible to believe that my kids could have done that painting or some origami.

Well, I only wish there was such a balanced approach in my school days so that I wouldn't have to resort to underhand methods to submit my project!

What say my school mate NS? Remember those days? We, born to talented mothers couldn't really complete an arty crafty project!