I was going to write about Charlie's quarterly parent-teacher conference but decided not to go there. Suffice it to say (just can't help myself), Charlie's home room teacher wasn't happy. Why? Because her daughter (who goes to the same school) and Charlie both received straight A's (I can’t help gloating over Charlie’s four A+’s) in all their academic classes but B's and C's in P.E. They're in the same grade with the same P.E. coach. The phys ed teacher came into our conference and assured us that our son couldn't be trying harder and has a great attitude. The problem (as with his homeroom teacher's daughter) they're physically unable to do some of the mandated tasks -- they’re young and haven’t grown into them yet.

Husband questioned P.E. teacher about the fairness, querying is it physical education or physical aptitude? There's a difference. P.E. teacher was unmoved from his stance and actually stated that physical education is no different from the other academic classes. (Wrong.) He's quite a fitness zealot and he admittedly has his work cut out for him in this day of the videogame and lack of outdoor exercise. I'm sure after this week he's going to think the parents are a bunch of whiners. (Apparently we were the first in a long line of unhappy parents.) The thing is, we aren't whiners/complainers at all and tend to stay under the radar. We offer to help Charlie's teachers but are generally unobtrusive. He's wrong. 'Nuff said.