A Winner For Sure

I thought I'd never see the day when my oldest was nervous about speaking. He has never...and I mean never...had a problem talking in front of people. Today...well...that changed.

Today at school they held elections for what they call "Pride Council". It's kind of what we used to call "Student Council" in-the-day. Turns out, most 4th grade classes only had a few running for positions and they elect two students to represent each class. In Ben's class though...every girl except one and three boys ran for the positions.

He was very serious about his speech and even his platform (how proud was I?! He talked about respecting and encouraging others, being proud to be at the school, how well he works with others, etc...). He had me write out what he wanted to say on index cards and he worked hard at reading it, while still looking up and making eye contact. ::::sniff, sniff:::: After his momma's heart speaking in front of crowds! :-)

I passed on all my secrets on how not to be nervous, including looking just above everyone's head, to the back of the class. It makes it look like you are making eye contact when you are actually too nervous to do so. I also told him about the ole' imagining everyone was in their underwear. He said he'd rather just imagine they had teddy bear bodies. Hey...whatever works for ya'.

They put off the speeches until after lunch, hoping one of the student's who was out would make it back by then, but he didn't. After he gave his speech, his sweet teacher let him come down and tell me how it went. He was happy with it and yet modest.

A couple of his classmates came by and told me, "Ben did so good!"

Win or lose this election, I'm just SOOO proud of my 9 year old being eager to get up in front of his peers, work at being prepared, talk about himself and why they should vote for him. That alone takes a lot of guts so I've already told him he's a winner for sure!

Geeeeeez I LOVE that kid!

And...did I mention he got straight A's on his report card. Sorry...proud momma here. :-)