Mother's Day Project or Performance Review? What's up with This?

Well, it's easy to see why you don't like the teacher, JB.

While the questions might be good and informative and I might want to know the answers, I think it's completely jacked up to do it in under the guise of a Mother's Day card.

Perhaps something similar for Teacher Appreciation is in order???

Performance review, lol!
What's next? 'On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, how would you rate mom's cooking, cleaning, looks, and weight?'
That is odd, and I bet some kids probably answered very honestly. I'm wondering how the teacher thought that would fit appropriately into a Mother's Day card.
They might be good questions for another time and place, but not in a Mother's day card.

I don't much like these things anyway. So it probably would irritate me.

The question that irritated me this year was not negative but my daughter's answer really caught me off guard.

Where does your mom take you?
My daughters answer "Target"...not all the many volunteer things I do with, not her favorite things to do...but Target! By no means to we go there often, maybe twice a month if that. Not Girl Scouts, not soccer practice, not the many other places like the zoo, the aquarium...all things and places she loves.

So I guess after writing this yes those questions would irritate me.

Well, it does seem a bit passive aggressive.
Though it could be a genuine "thinking" exercise.
Just be glad your son doesn't want to change anything about you!
I remember some kids in first grade when prompted with,
My favorite thing to do with my mom is....
several kids said "nothing."
Even after I worked with them, said "oh, what about reading, snuggling, watching TV" they all said, no my mom doesn't do anything with me.
SOOO sad :(

The school was probably expecting to get cute answers.

While I don't agree with putting those subjects on a Mother's Day card I do think they are good questions. I believe them to be a way to build thinking in young children and also a way for children to address concerns and issues they may not necessarily know how to otherwise. I often find that we(adults)feel we can critique our children however for some odd reason we often don't allow that same critique towards us coming from our children. Now I realize not everyone is this way but this is just an observation of other parents I know or have known over the years.

weird. i have to hope it was done in anticipation of getting helpful, funny or sweet answers. but yes, this would irritate me.
not enough to complain or anything. but i'd certainly roll my eyes and mutter some not-mommy-safe words under my breath.
and i'd think very hard about having my child send a card with a similar questionnaire at the end of the school year.
:) khairete
S.

Yes, it would irritate me on a Mother's Day card . . . otherwise I think it would be interesting.

I like Lisa C.'s idea for Teacher Appreciation Day. :P

I look back on my cards from my son's younger years and they all say something like:

Thanks for being the bestest Mom in the world

Thank you for all the good stuff you do for me

I think you are the goodest Mom

As an adult he always sends pretty cards with a hand written message of love and appreciation.

I think the teacher may have some unresolved mother issues and I would have a word with her because if she continues to teach, it might be a good lesson for her.

I think that is awful! It is awkward for you and your son! I would definitely say something to this teacher and make sure that I requested that none of my subsequent children be placed in her class.

I agree. I think those questions are terrible!

Ugghhh~ that would irritate me! REALLY..... Not very kind of the teacher.. As moms we all try our hardest and nobody is perfect.

That would tick me off. For the exact reasons already pointed out.

I do a lot of subbing and last week we were working on Mother's Day projects.

We did not ask questions like that.

One question was something about my mom's job and I had so many children say "my mom does not have a job"

I replied with .... she does a good job taking care of your and her family... that is a hard job.

Other than that, it asked mom's age and most 1st graders did not know, favorite color, favorite food type of questions.

I don't agree with the teacher soliciting any negative answers. Quite frankly, I was never crazy about some projects in 1st and 2nd grade... Daughter had a couple of projects where you draw the house and a question was how many windows do you have? Well gees, why didn't they just say, how big is your house. I felt like it was the school district butting into personal lives but that is just me.

I wouldn't say anything to the teacher, everyone in that grade level got the project so she may not be the one who composed the questions.

Yup, really inappropriate.

I think that it should have only been positives on a Mom's Day Card.

I would tell her that you appreciated her working with the class on the card, but that those questions hit you strangely and you wonder why they were there. She's soliciting feedback FOR you so why not FROM you? Just a short email might let her know how it came off.

I had to help do these in my daughters class and tried to help the kids respond with nice things. What does your mother say all the time? I helped by saying what is something nice your mother says to you all the time. What does your mom not like to do? Maybe cleaning or shopping. I saw that when I asked these questions the kids didn't seem to know an answer and just threw stuff out. For instance my daughter said my favorite food was Pizza. Like pizza, but def. not my favorite or even something I eat often. Some of the answers can hurt mommas feelings and while some people may take them as an important thing to look at, I felt many answers were just kids fumbling with the pressure. We do not need to feel bad when one kid says my mom is 16, loves carrots, favorite thing to do is play dolls and says I love you a hundred times a day and another answers my mom is 80, loves chocolate, hates to play and says stop whining a hundred times a day. ( ; Sheesh!

My daughter's Mother's Day school project was the same as yours this year. However, it didn't include the last 3 fill-in sentences that yours did. I think that's over-the-top, personally, and I would have been ticked off, too. No end of the year goodbye gift for that teacher! Or, perhaps some coal?

I agree with you. Should be all positives. Maybe it wasn't a dig, but I think it would feel like one to me. I would not be able to resist saying something to him/her.

I think they sound like good questions. I would want to know what our daughter thought.

We kind of already used to ask her these types of questions.. We would laugh at the answers, because we thought we knew how she would answer, but she came up with some interesting observations or her own way of seeing the world.

I have said it many times.. Our daughter has always seen the world, very differently than others. This is part of her creativity.

Maybe these questions have brought out some of your insecurities as a mom? But to me that just seem like things, I would want to know. I do not see them as anything negative at all.