Jamie’s secret arms

There’s nothing worse than a pushy or over-proud parent, as I was starkly reminded first thing this morning.

I set off for work a little earlier than normal and arrived at the front door of Jamie’s nursery bang on 7.30am.

There was already a growing queue of other parents looking to off-load their sprogs at the earliest possible opportunity.

Within a few seconds, the front door had swung open and Jamie and I were heading towards his personal peg to hang up his coat and bag.

That done, it was time to sign him in at the Pre-School Room.

I say sign him in, but that’s not really what happens – it’s much more exciting than that.

Because each morning, after locating the laminated bumble bee with his name on, he has to answer a question written on a notepad and then place his bumble bee next to what he believes is the correct answer.

Normally, when we arrive a little later than we did today, it’s just me and him in the signing in area. But this morning there was a sudden crowd of mum, dads and inmates waiting to answer the exact same question.

So I boldly decided that my boy should do it for us all.

“OK Jamie,” I announced, “here’s today’s question!” I could feel the excitement behind me building.

“How many arms do you have? TWOOOOO.........or four?”

Jamie pondered briefly, before taking a deep breath and bellowing at the top of his voice:

“FIVE!”

I was devastated – as the now massed ranks of children around us shouted out in unison that the answer (for them at least) was actually two.

I swear I could feel the grins of the other mums and dads burning through my back.

Perhaps White Jnr will be more of a wordsmith than a mathematician.