<p>In the sciences, poster presentations are a big deal ( also includes social sciences).
My D was invited to present a poster at a conference as an undergrad- I was very proud.</p>
<p>[ACP:</a> For Students, Residents and Fellows - Preparing a Poster Presentation](<a href=“http://www.acponline.org/residents_fellows/competitions/abstract/prepare/pos_pres.htm]ACP:”>Preparing a Poster Presentation | ACP Online)</p>
<p>I’ve never helped my D do projects for school (beyond shopping for supplies) even if we both think they are stupid and I could do the “mindless” work for her as an assistant. The reason I don’t do this is because I want my D to learn how to manage her time. If she needs to stay up all night to get something done, that’s what she has to do. If she had three weeks to get it done and if she left it until the last minute, oh well. Be more organized next time.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole thread…but we usually helped with projects because although my kids were intelligent, their grades were usually on the edge of the a/b or b/c line and I knew the project was what could bring them up and didn’t require memorization etc…that is, something I could check before they handed in.</p>
<p>Our help was usually in the planning (brainstorming) part unless there were specific directions. S2 had terrible fine motor skills so Dad would often draw the outlines or people etc and S2 could color it in. I remember one teacher who had them do book reports in middle school (I think it was MS). They had to have illustrations but couldn’t use the internet. S2 could NOT have done this without embarrassment (nor could I really) but dad rescued by drawing the faces etc. (I remember thinking it was English class, not art class).</p>
<p>I never actually lied about kids’ accomplishments, but this year I did neglect to tell anyone how S1 did in his first semester as a transfer…S2 did fine, not great, but actually better than I expected so I could say how he did without lying!</p>
<p>It is hard not to lie when friend’s and neighbors’ kids do great, but it’s usually easy to find something good to say about mine, or just say “that’s nice” and change the subject. I have one person whose son is perfect compared to mine regarding school and work ethic, but my son is so much more “normal” to me. Her son may be more successful, but my son is the type I’d prefer to be around. Of course, I’d prefer to have my so be how he is in every way, except also have her son’s academics and work ethic!</p>
<p>Vlines , exactly with nurse writing. short shopped up sentences. no opinion, just observation , plan etc… I used to such a good writer and I am not now. I notice it here when I want to abbreviate everything.
If my D has projects in school, I am not aware or involved.</p>
<p>A good friend of my daughter’s worked on one of those California mission projects (well-known by CA 4th graders - they always do a model and study state history, and did even back in the 60s when I was in 4th grade) with his dad. The model came out beautifully. It looked like a professional job. Nobody really thought that the student worked on it completely by himself. Yet the experience was so wonderful for him and his father, spending all that time together on the project - so to me it was sort of heartwarming. It was still educational (for the dad too!). And the teacher didn’t hold any one project over any other in value.</p>
<p>While I do shudder to recall those glue stick projects for classes that were not art, the real bane of my existence was group projects. Inevitably, one kid just wouldn’t bother to show up to the weekend meeting, and sometimes the same kid or sometimes yet another kid would not do the required work, or someone else’s work was so bad and so last minute and couldn’t be redone, and then my kid’s grade suffered. Maybe it’s like working in an office on a team, but you know, coworkers can get fired for poor performance.</p>
<p>My gripe is not with pinatas or making pinatas or learning about other cultures through art. My gripe was with the timing, which any parent of a second semester hs junior can appreciate. This is Chicago, these students know about pinatas as toddlers and they make them in grade school.</p>
<p>To OP: No. If anything I emphasize their failings to people.</p>
<p>OP, you’ve got a real little kid, right?</p>
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<p>This might be the parents trying to be cute, which is different than trying to make your kid out to look like some handwriting savant. They probably write the thank you note in first person “signed” by the child. Same deal. I did this with my own children when they were quite young because it amused me and also amused the grandparents. </p>
<p>Not everything is about one-upmanship.</p>
<p>“handwriting savant” :)</p>
<p>OP, what exactly is the point of this thread?</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread, but I remember the flip side of it. </p>
<p>In third grade, we were supposed to be making a mothers day present for our mothers but the teacher did it all. My mother still likes to tell the story of how I handed her the present and said sullenly–“Happy Mother’s Day I didn’t make this.”</p>