You don't wanna do it like that, you wanna do it like this.."

Joseph has been separated in class from one of his friends recently because they are too boisterous and excitable.

Or in plain English, they’re a royal pain in the butt when together.

I spoke to Joseph in front of his teachers this morning before he went into class and he (reluctantly) agreed to be good. I said I would be asking his teacher at the end of the day how he had behaved.

When I went to collect him, I could see him standing sheepishly at the back of the queue of children waiting to be collected and I knew something was amiss.

His teacher said to me, “he’s had a lovely day, behaved beautifully, right up until the very end of the day when he stuck his tongue out at me and spoilt things”.

Now I know that sticking your tongue out doesn’t exactly constitute grand theft auto but, at the age of 5, you need to be towing the line and knowing what to do and what not to do.

Or at least, what not to do when a teacher is looking straight at you!

I adopted my unimpressed face and asked him why he had done it, did he realise he had upset his teacher, had he said sorry and so on.

He tried to say sorry with his water bottle half in his mouth but his teacher was having none of it. She took it out of his mouth and asked again. He repeated the apology, adding her name on the end of the sentence, only this time his face cracked slightly and his lip quivered.

I could see he was genuinely sorry and my heart went out to him. We walked away holding hands, all the while Annabel was trying to give him a cuddle but he was upset and as I glanced down, I could see him wiping his eyes with his scarf.

I stopped and knelt down to him, telling him it was fine; he’d been naughty but he’d apologised and that was it, over.

Apart from the tears however, was the fact that he was clearly embarrassed and he freaked a little, turning his water bottle upside down, throwing it and pushing me away.

I mentioned the magic words “snack bag” and his hand relaxed in mine and a little laugh escaped his lips.

We talked in the car about the incident while they ate their cheese and crackers and he seemed fine.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.