'My child didn't do anything that you said he had to do.'

Last year I had a gem of a client.

Her and her husband took hours of my time telling me about their confusion with the 4+ assessments. They were asking me thousands of questions and I answered all of them.

I helped them.

I supported them.

Their son’s Habs 4+ assessment was coming up and they had less than one month to prepare for it. I was completely at capacity and at this point my son was only 2. I now no longer support parents with 1:1 tuition unless they have 3 months remaining until the assessment date.

I told them honestly that I was full and they were insistent that I help them. I sacrificed my Sundays with my son to give their son 30 minutes of my time.

The first lesson, I could see that this gem of a client was just not convinced. She doubted most everything I did. Her son did not engage with me (which was obviously my fault and not hers and definitely not his). There was one lesson my son cried for me (I work from home) and I had to bring him in to simply hold him and she was furious.

I wanted to stop teaching her son but I continued. I was dedicated to him.

He was not ready for the Habs boys’ 4+ assessment but he did pass.

After he passed, she left me the most disgusting message. Rather than thanking me for my help and support over the month that I supported her she ‘told me off’ for bringing my son into the lesson and that it was ‘not professional’ and that ‘she would never bring a baby into her office’.

She told me a whole heap of nonsense and that her son got in basically without much preparation which upon reflection is a huge lie because I provided him with one month of prep. So she did actually prepare him.

I write this blog to encourage you to not listen to these destructive things that parents and helpful nursery teachers will tell you. They will tell you not to prepare for the 4+ and you must ignore them. You must smile and move on. I promise you that you 100% have to prepare your child if you want to even stand a chance of them being offered a place at a top school in London.