Son no 4 was recently elected as a Prefect at school.  He is in Grade 7 which is the senior year of what we term as primary school in South Africa.  They went on prefect camp 2 weeks ago which is like a leadership camp where they all bond and vote on the Head Boy and Head Girl positions for the year.  This vote is then tallied and the teachers and school Principal get to have their say and finally the heads are elected at some point in the near future.

Today I was invited to attend the school assembly once again.  This usually means that my child is receiving an award of sorts and I am very proud to say that my son has been elected as Head Boy.

I am thrilled to death. He is thrilled to death.  He has always claimed it is a sure thing for him and he has claimed for the last 3 years that this position is his.  So I am really pleased all of his hard work has paid off.

As life would have it, I cleaned out my cupboard yesterday and managed to do a really good purge.  I also found a dress I have never worn before.  I am generally not big on dresses so it was a quick decision to chuck it out or wear it.  So I decided to wear it today and of course wore the highest heels I have to go with it.  As they started announcing the heads, they kindly asked for the parents to come up on stage as well.  So there I am, in my short dress, white legs, high clunky heels, clunking my way up the stairs to the stage (imagining myself falling flat on my face going up), and then clunking my way all across the stage.  Had I known, I would have dressed a lot more modestly!  I stood there whilst they took photographs with the biggest smile ever on my face – firstly because I am so proud and secondly because I was having a seriously embarrassing moment imagining what I must look like.

I am not a helicopter mom and I am fairly hands off when it comes to schooling.  Yes I make sure homework is done and I even help out on occasion but I generally leave the teachers to do their thing.  I don’t believe in putting too much pressure on your kids and I don’t expect a report full of A’s.

Son no 4 has always been the brainiac in the family and typically brings home reports which are full of A’s.  He was also recently elected cricket captain as well so he has a fairly full plate which of course comes with extra pressures.

So I am a really proud mum today and I know he will do an amazing job in his new position as Head Boy!