Feedback be it good or bad should always be acknowledged

Every parent wants a child they can be proud of and I certainly am not any different. In the time T has been in my life he has made me most proud and at certain times he has made me quite concerned; guess you gotta take the good with the bad. On the second occasion I took him to his twice monthly playgroup (one of the many he goes to), I got a phone call from the group leader immediately afterwards asking if I would be willing to see a language and speech therapist because she felt my son wasn't participating or paying enough attention to the group activities. Now I am very protective of those close to me and if I feel like you are attacking my child I may just have you for lunch so as soon as she started talking, my guard went up. Who is this lady and what gives her the right to think she can label my child when she doesn't have a clue who he is was all I could remember thinking. She ended the call by apologizing if she had offended me and I hung up feeling very annoyed at the negative feedback. That is the issue with feedback, when it is positive, it is welcome but when it is negative;oh no don't no one wanna hear it. After I had calmed down I knew I had to act. But first I had to confirm she was right. In the months afterwards I carried out my own observations noting how many times T followed orders and how many times he ignored them at his various playgroups. It turned out he wasn't completely disobedient, he was just fiercely independent and instead of carrying on with the group, as soon as he got his hand on the next item of play, he just wanted to go and do his own thing without input from anyone. Based on that I knew it was time I buckled up. I laid down the law; he either learns to play within the group and obeys the leader or we leave as soon as he starts misbehaving and he knows what was waiting at home when we got in- the naughty corner.

That was three months ago so when this morning we went to the playgroup and the group leader pulled me aside to talk about the amazing strides she felt T was making, I was pleasantly surprised. She told me I was doing a great job as he was the only kid in the group that was fully engaged and cooperative while being independent when he needed to be. He was singing when she said to. He sat when she said to. And as soon as each rhyme segment was over, he knew exactly to return his toy and wait for the next one. It made me extremely proud and glad I didn't disregard her original feedback