EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Mom on the Edge
|
||||
|
You have to be a parent to really understand Perhaps you don’t read the papers much these days. God knows since the birth of my children I don’t, although occasionally changing a litter box I’ll look down and see a headline that startles me: “What? They’re making a movie of ‘Lord of The Rings?’ I’d like to see that!” In case you’ve missed it, then, there’s much tumult today in California public education. From government officials to board members to teacher’s unions, everyone’s having a say about how our kids should be educated. . . As for parents? It’s been suggested we form our own lobbying group. Right! Let me give you an example of a prime demographic for political activism: the AARP. Aside from never missing a Civil War documentary on PBS, my retired Chinese 85-year-old dad will ride the bus for an hour to save a stamp. That’s the kind of time he has. He’d write five letters to the editor a day, if he could find his glasses. Meanwhile, it’s all I can do to keep up with our school’s short day, minimum day, reduced day, and what I’ve come to think of as Tuesday lite – kind of a low-fat, low-carb Tuesday where school starts at 8:47 and ends at 11:23, presumably so teachers can receive training in the calculus of maintaining a bell schedule. If by the end of the day my children aren’t waiting in front of a Ralphs somewhere, this, for me, is success. Anyway, after several decades’ experience with California public schools, my issues are not so high-minded. I don’t worry much about curriculum – I believe a mission is always a mission, whether you build it with glue and Popsicle sticks or, if designated “gifted,” you’re gently invited to “imagine” it in a diary (Which I think is sad: What kid doesn’t live for the opportunity to glue something?). No, my beef is with the paperwork that streams home in our kids’ backpacks, the flotsam and jetsam of announcements, ranging from pink 8 x 11 fliers about “Jump Rope for Healthy Hearts” Day to the yellow 5 x 5 piece of paper which says YOUR family is responsible for bringing a healthy snack for 22 on a Thursday, to the permission slip for a zoo field trip that was due two weeks ago. Otherwise your child will be left at Ralphs. So that is the change I propose, on behalf of all parents, E-MAILING. . . all the complicated snack information! After all, if Bill Gates can put an encyclopedia on a nano-chip. . . ! (Can he? As I said, I’m not so hot on current events.) All I can tell you is, that ‘Lord of the Rings,’ when it comes out? It’s going to be good. |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
