What are Parent/Teacher conferences?

I was standing at the front of the room giving a lesson, when our secretary walked in and set some papers on my desk. I had been expecting them to bring around notes to go home with the student's conference times on them. Of course, 2nd graders are curious and they all wanted to know what those notes were for. I explained to them that they were notes telling their parents what time they were scheduled to be at PT conferences. One boy said," So teacher, what exactly are parent teacher conferences? I told them that it was an opportunity for their parents to come to school and see what we do in our classroom. I then told them that the best part of all is that I get to tell their parents all the bad things I have learned about each student. Their jaws dropped to the floor and they began to look pretty worried. I continued the rouse for a little while until one of my little girls raised her hand and said, "Teacher, can you give us a break? I mean we haven't told your mom about the three times you have been on the wrong side of the page in math?" I began laughing so hard. But none of the other kids laughed--they were totally serious.