“Parent”; more than just a biological donation.

You see it all too often these days.  Kids running around stores and restaurants, practically unsupervised.  Kid wants something, parent says no, kid screams, cries, makes ruckus, and parent gives in.  Now, I’m not saying that good parents don’t have an off day and just give in to save themselves from the building migraine.  But all too often, as a teacher, I’ve seen situations not as blatant, but basically the same as the mother that at a team meeting for her son, told us “but Zach doesn’t like being disciplined at home.”

Yesterday I was at the counter at the Chevron when this father and his 6 year old son came up to the counter.  The son has a big pack of Reese’s Peanut  Butter Cups in his hand, kind of clutching them to his chest.  Dad tells him to hand them to me and to apologize for taking them without paying for them.  The boy hands them to me, and in a very tepid little voice says “I’m sorry”.  I’m sure I seemed a little out of it as I thanked him and his father for returning it, since I was a bit busy having a little flashback to 1967.

I was 6 or 7 when my dad caught me with a Matchbox car I had stolen from the local 5 & Dime.  I hadn’t even had the chance to get it out of the package, so my dad immediately packed me into the car, drove me back down there and made  me go in, return it and apologize for taking it.  This little lesson has stuck with me, well, it’s still with me.  I’d like to say that I’ve never stolen anything since then, but as we all know the teen years can overcome the best of parenting.  But even during my most narcissistic adolescent phase, I still had this big knot in the pit of my stomach anytime I took something that wasn’t mine.  It didn’t stop me, but I still had a physical reaction.  Which probably explains why my larceny was kept to a minimum, and can say that I have never been arrested for any kind of theft.

After they left, I wondered if I had handled the situation as best I could.  Was I too nice, should I have said something more?  But remembering back on my experience, I really have no idea what the man at the counter said, or exactly what my father had said for that matter.  I vividly remember walking in that door, looking down the counter, on the right, to where the cashier was, and standing there in front of him.  I remember being embarrassed as hell that I got caught, and more importantly, that I was being held responsible for my actions.

Infinite Wisdom

Our district got a grant to get internet-based phones in every classroom.  Plug the phone into the USB port and log onto Microsoft Messenger, and parents will be able to get in touch with me anywhere I go, world-wide.

Except in my classroom during business hours.  If I want, I can get phone calls from parents while I’m on vacation in Cancun, but not during my consultation period when I’m at school.

Yup, they set up the system to block incoming calls during our contract hours (7:00 AM to 3:30 PM).  Thanks to the few teachers who will abuse the system, and who are probably already doing it with their personal cell phones, we’re given this great piece of technology that is only useful when we’re off the job.

Another case of people who haven’t been in a classroom for over 20 years spending money in places that best serve the students.

Yup.

Marijke

Second Septennial Tree Removal Revival

The parking situation has been somewhat complicated this winter.  Two of the old Fords, and the Subaru, all spent the season open to the elements.  This is the problem you get when you have 6 vehicles and only 3 covered parking spots. 

This is the solution.

Put up a couple of those car-tent things in the back yard, which has been unused and over run with weeds ever since building the garage over 12 years ago.  A problem with that is caused by the only access, for vehicles, to that area being through my neighbor’s parking area.  Good thing I thought about that  when I built the carport on the side of the garage, designing it so that the rear wall was removable (see pictures below), allowing access through it to the back yard. 

Another issue is the need to remove a couple trees and some bushes, to make room for the tents and a turn-around area for the cars.  I really don’t want to have to back those beasts through the carport.

So I’m putting out the invite to anyone (specifically my two brothers, but all are invited) who wants to help me rip out some trees and bushes.  I plan on doing it sometime this summer, hoping to have it all ready so I can have the cars covered for next winter, but as of now I have no specific dates in mind.  I also want to, if it’s not too expensive, rent a bobcat to smooth out the slope up and level out the parking area.   So, let me know if you are interested in helping, and I’ll try to have it on a day we can all make it.

Here’s the before and after picture of the back of the carport.

Civic Literacy

I took an online Civic Literacy quiz, scored 84.85% (28/33).  The average for the month of May (so far) was 75.6%, so I’m pretty happy with that score.  I won’t give you any details about the answers I got wrong, just in case you want to try it yourself, but on 4 of the 5 I got wrong, over 2/3 of the people taking the quiz got wrong also.