Padmajav’s Weblog

After that horrendous experience in my son’s school last March, I had frantically tried most of the good schools I could think of inside city limits. (I was tired of driving 10 kms one way!)

Walking into a school in my own neighborhood, I’d fallen in love with what I saw. It had such a friendly ambience, lots of space in front for the kids to run around and fantastically informal & colorful classrooms… Was sure my son would love it too. But as luck would have it, all admissions were closed. I left an application, nevertheless.

When school began in mid-June, I’ had no choice but to send him back to that same distant school. Now I had to make the trip twice. Once to drop him and once to pick him up.

Just when I’d braced myself for that routine, I get a call out of the blue from the school I loved. Am I still interested in a seat for my son?

Of course I am.

I was asked to meet them today.

I’ve just met them and he’s got himself a seat!!

Its just two minutes walk from home and he just loves it!!

Heaven!!

I also heard that some moms out there in the old school were smirking that I came back this year after fighting so much with the management..

So my pride is back too!

Just wrapping up the school issue.

After 2 weeks of all this hullabaloo, the school seems terrified. The story seem to have spread like a wild fire, thanks to parents like me who’s been telling all and sundry, so they can watch out for their kids. So the authorities have suddenly woken up to the fact that its dangerous to let parents inside for more than ten minutes. Especially when there are lot of prospective parents walking into school everyday.

Now parents have been kindly requested to drop their wards in school and go back. No more waiting in the school. And when we come back, we face a security guard and a grilled gate in the lobby and a stern, sour-faced coordinator who lets the children one by one to their waiting parents outside.

On the personal front, my son has not got admission anywhere else. So I just have to brave it out in this fabulous school till November. And pray everyday that I’ll get a positive response from a nice school by then.

The silver lining is that my son seems to be enjoying the school.

Thanks so much, all you guys, for holding my hand through all this. It meant a lot to me when most people were asking me to keep off such things, how my kid may be targeted by the school for my impudence, etc.

My next post is going to be cheerful, I promise.

The last few days have been a whirl…

The day after the Principal’s refusal to meet us, I sat in the school’s lobby waiting for my son.

I was depressed.

I’d spoken to the affected mother and told her subtly, how the school had turned tables and claimed that she’s not a mentally stable person… Told her I’m pulling my son out of this school.

She was still feeling down. Told me she’d just transferred her older son to this school and she’s planning to withdraw him too.

I assured her that its the right decision and asked her look for a school where they treat parents with due respect.

I didn’t send my son to school for the next few days. Went school-hunting. Knocked on the doors of 2 reputed schools in the neighborhood. But since this is not the season for admissions, both the schools asked me to come back next year, in spite of me explaining the reason for the desperate need to change schools.

One school however was sweet enough to let me apply and promised to add us to their waiting list.

On the first school’s suggestion, I tried another school yesterday, but the response was negative.

In the night I touched base with the affected parent.

She said the child has resumed going to school. Because she gets too depressed at home. And she has to prove to people that she’s mentally stable. She also said that she feels this is not going to affect her son in anyway since he’s in a higher grade. So not withdrawing him from this school either.

However she’ll start looking for another school for her daughter next year. Till then she’ll attend this school.

Am I the only fool here, who fought so crazily for a cause, kept my overactive son home for almost a whole week, ran from one school to another, begged and pleaded my case to various authorities and ended up with nothing but bouts of headaches and depression?

I ask myself as I bang my head against the wall.

Stupid, stupid, stupid me…