So I pissed my wife off... again.

[MakiSupaStar]

Alright. So my son's second grade teacher asked us to write an email about our son. Strengths, weaknesses, medical issues, interests, etc. Since it was actually due today, I agreed to write it immediately. Now, she thinks I went overboard. She sprung it on me right when I was about to sit down to work on mixing some recordings I'm working on, and well, I was in the 'state of mind' to work on music, and not write an email to my son's teacher. Long story short, I fired off an email, that she said was just a complete brag-fest about my son. I don't think it's that bad. I have an amazing kid, and I'm not shy about talking about it. She thinks that because I was under the influence of my legalized medicine, that I'm going to embarrass us. I generally write any correspondence, because English is not her first language. This promptly made me fire off a wisecrack reminder about this fact, which was not a smart thing to say. Now I have been revoked sammich privileges until this thing blows over. So you guys tell me. Did I go overboard here? Here's the letter.

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Hi Mrs. Smith,

Kaito Ham is an intelligent calm, patient, respectful child that makes friends easily and has a wide range of interests. He loves doing things that are physical and is quite a serious athlete. In the Fall he plays soccer. This is his fourth team. He often scores, or is in contention to score, and he tries really hard to be the best player he can be. He has retained friends from each team, and often coaches give me compliments on how well he listens and learns. Kaito also plays golf and has been taking lessons and playing since he was 2.5
years old. He drives straight, and is working on two-putting on the greens, but most of all, he has really learned to control his mental game, which I'm quite impressed with since golf often reduces me to the mental game of someone his age. He also fines me beers when I'm been cursing on the course. Kaito is also learning karate, and is almost at the level of testing for his yellow belt. Again, if it's a discipline using his body, he is very focused. Kaito's Sensei often asks him how to pronounce things in Japanese, since Kaito is fluent in Japanese. Still, even with all these activities, I would say physically, Kaito is really best in the water. He has a remarkable natural ability. Being that I swam competitively for 17 years, with National qualifying times, and have worked as an Ocean Lifeguard for the City of Huntington Beach for 18 years, this is something that has a long tradition in my side of the family. Last summer he placed 2nd in the entire league for 25 yards backstroke, as well as top 8 for 3 other events. Kaito also enjoys surfing with us. This last summer was
disappointing because of the cold water and bad weather that made conditions poor for learning how to surf, but we still managed to go out a few times, but it's looking like we'll have to get more sessions in during the Fall.

Mentally, Kaito demonstrates outstanding discipline for a 7 year old. His mother is Japanese, and since he was a baby, she works lovingly with him to teach him her first language. The results of her hard work is a proud, bilingual boy that has a passion for learning and is fluent in Japanese. Sato and I have a philosophy that we want him to learn Japanese in a fun way. So we look for classes, and fun activities within the Japanese community. As a result, Kaito has developed a passion for Japanese. He takes his lessons entirely in Japanese with a nice lady who he likens to a third grandmother. We are really grateful for all the love she uses when teaching him. I am also a musician, so to see my son adopt a passion for music (while learning how to read fluently - something I never mastered), I can hardly say how excited I am be able to jam and 'hang' with him in this kind of mental space. It's a lot of fun when he makes us pause the TV so he can step up and rip out a song he's learning on his digital keyboard. Recently, while studying for a final in a guitar class that I recently took, Kaito helped me study by reading the music for me. It's laughable how much faster he is at reading music than myself. During the week in the evenings, when he's all done with his homework (something he diligently does as soon as he gets home), he likes to spend his time playing with his lego. He enjoys making the sets, but also creating his own space ships, which are props in a very detailed play universe that keeps him engrossed for hours. If I'm home he always asks me to play games with him (Uno, Life, Monopoly, Othello). While he enjoys television (Sponge Bob, Phineas and Ferb, Star Wars Clone Wars, Ghosthunters, Fact or Fake, and Wipeout), I honestly think he enjoys playing these games with us much more. Of course, Kaito enjoys video games (what 7 year old boy doesn't). We found that we had to limit his amount of time he spends on the Wii. He quickly masters and solves the games, especially anything to do with Mario or Lego, but he also enjoys playing Mario Cart with the family, and Tiger Woods golf with myself.

Academically, Kaito is an excellent student. He is driven, and takes ownership of the work he turns in and the things he is responsible for learning. Being a teacher myself (7th and 8th grade), this is a quality I find refreshing and rare amongst my own students. He tends to be at the top of the class in all areas with a particular strength in Math. Recently he has developed a passion for reading, and we are currently working through all the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books. I try to read to him every night as a nice way to wind down our day. It's nice to see that he's been taking the book to school and to see that he's made progress in the story and he can accurately tell me what's happened to catch me up. Sometimes reading frustrates him, if he's tired, he tends to get lazy in asking me to say what words without trying to sound them out. He does tend to be a little weak in comprehension, and deductiveness when asked questions about the story, but generally reads/comprehends at a very high level for a child of 7 years. I personally haven't seen the test results, but I would guess that he definitely reads above his grade level. Kaito also sets goals for himself. In first grade we offered him incentive if he passed all of his math times-table tests (through x9's). He did. As a result he earned a Nintendo DS (something he has been dreaming about for a couple of years), but when offered the choice of getting the current model, or waiting for an upcoming 3D model, Kaito chose to wait for the 3-D model. So when the 3-D model comes out, we're on the hook. This kind of patience really impressed Sato and I. He definitely doesn't get it from me. As you can tell, Kaito is probably my favorite thing to talk about. We're both immensely proud of him, and love him very much. He's really looking forward to being in a class with 3rd graders, and was really happy to learn that he was going to be in your class. Please, don't hesitate to call/text us if you need any help or assistance with him. Also let us know if there is material that you'd like us to work on with him.


Have a great year,


MakiSupaStar

[bassteban]

tl;dr(except the first paragraph- IMO not overdone)
BUT for the sake of the grilled cheese, I'd do damn-near whatEVER is necessary(& often do )

[Atoz]

I think you should have at least mentioned a token weakness. It wasn't supposed to be a recommendation letter for Harvard, after all.

[NickInMesa]

Dude, you want me to bother you with my stories of my wife pissed at me for no reason?

Wifes and girlfriends always get pissed at us for no reason.

Then a couple days later we're the best guy again.

Just grin through it, you'll be fine.

Plus that type of new age education is so stupid. Teacher should know the strength and weaknesses of the students without having to ask the parents.

She may be an even better judge.

[jmattbassplaya]

Sounds like a good kid

Dunno why your wife got mad...

[line6man]

Is your name actually MakiSupaStar?
Seems like an odd valediction to use a nickname or internet username instead of your real name.

[XigXag]

I must say I think you did go a bit far. I think its more funny than anything, not something to be mad about.
I mean, you went on for several sentences about his golf game. his golf game?
Im sorry, that makes me chuckle.
And I think its a little long.
Cant really understand being mad about it tho...

[gkbass13]

I loved it. I have read some pretty wild letters from parents of students that I work with(both good and bad) and I would have been excited to have your son in my class, as well as enjoyed the humor in your writing.

Props, Maki.

[BogeyBass]

the whole, im sorry your right, im wrong thing should work.
just make sure your lie seems honest enough.....send a card to her workplace with a balloon. the card does not matter...its what you write on the inside that does. tell her the normal i love you stuff and how complete she makes you, and your lost without her...blah blah blah
trust me cards work..just be sincere with what you write. do not apolagize or leave any remarks in the card about the argument...it will just remind her of it...just write mushy lovey dovey stuff....expect a phone call with her crying. not only will she forgive you but all the other female coworkers at her work will be so jealous of the card you sent her, they will further along the make up by saying how lucky she is ..plus she will be the center of attention which she would probable enjoy. that is why you send it to her at work, plus the card and balloons should only be about 5 bucks. no flowers no stuffed animals.wait a few days a put that woman in check.or just leave it be.

[MadMan118]

Well firstly the woman is always right. And secondly the woman IS right. You could have been lighter on the praise and heavier on the weaknesses so it balanced out well. I think she only feels that it embarrassed the family based on cultural aspects in that Japaneses people are very modest individuals, so you may have come off a bit ham-handed to her. So all you can do now is wait it out with bass and brews.

[cassanova]

It's a very well written letter. You could've trimmed some of the fat off though (details of golf abilities, etc) and maybe included more of the boy's weaknesses. I don't think it's anything to be pissed about though. BTW, you left out the part where he can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

[MJ5150]

Definitely rambling, and overly casual for the audience and situation. But hey, I am the same way with my e-mails. I get chastised for it at work frequently.

-Mike

[Munjibunga]

That'll teach her to interrupt you when you're doing something far more important.

[KillerQuebec]

A lot of dads don't even know what sports their kids play. Great job!

BTW, it was probably an experiment to see which parents actually give a darn. Content is probably not as important as grammar and the fact that you even wrote something.

[ehque]

Im learning Japanese and Japanese culture, and i think it's a cultural thing?

It certainly comes across as a cultural thing.

In any case, as mentioned above, one token weakness will give the email some credibility, and perhaps help the teacher pay more attention to your kid.

IMHO.

[Disco_Gee]

tl;dr

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by KillerQuebec

BTW, it was probably an experiment to see which parents actually give a darn. Content is probably not as important as grammar and the fact that you even wrote something.

this.

[hover]

it's a tad long, and a little ebullient with praise, but hey, you love your son and want to express that...so in that light, it could also be viewed as a tad short. I would do the same thing. Like mentioned, I too get wordy with emails about subjects I am passionate about.

There are much worse things in the world than Parents that truly care and focus on their children. Bravo mang.

[Relic]

Can I borrow that, but just put my son's name in there + change a few details?

[Kawai-chang]

You forgot the part where he whales on Inspector Clouseau in every movie.

(Little Kaito/Cato humor there, doncha know.)