We'll Just Stay Home, Thank You Very Much

Jiminy Christmas.  I cannot believe how much schools have changed since I last attended them.  Here's on news article that caught my eye:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/living/parents-middle-school-bans-balls-recess/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

And another:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9277392

(The above article is about a school where three teachers work - all three have contracted thyroid cancer). 

The two news articles are different, I know, but they go towards my argument for parents educating their children instead of outsourcing that to school districts. 

In defense of schools and old-time-teaching, I think that there was nothing wrong with dodge ball.  True, I sucked at it and got pelted like crazy.  Still, the excitement shared by the kids playing the game was invigorating like nothing else was.  Now schools are say no to balls?  That is too bad. 
Being a 36 year old adult, I can honestly say that getting smacked in the head with a ball produces no life skills.  But the chasing, laughing, and fear are fun.  Fun is always valid and welcome. 

Taking your kid to a school where there have been cancer outbreaks?  Bad idea. 

So think on it.  Whose job is it to prepare our children for the world?  Whose job is it to keep our children safe?  It is the job of the parents. 

What I Know That They Don't Know...

Time passes by so quickly.  I can still remember when my then one-year-old son used to hand me his sippy could and would say "Bobosina."  I have no idea where the word came from, but knew that it meant that he needed more water in his sippy cup. 

I still remember how he used to climb on my back to take a nap (while I lay belly down on the floor, writing fiction in a composition notebook) back when he was two.  I loved the way his weight felt.

I love the way he climbs into bed with me and his dad every single morning for some talking and some "lovin'".  One day that will stop, too.

But for now, and for the rest of his schooling years, I have him.  I have this wonderful little man who makes me think, makes me laugh, makes me smile, makes me grow and keeps me company every single day.  There is no reason why I should dispatch my happiness-filled boy to a school that will not treasure him like I do. 

Sure, I will have to let him go one day, but what I know that others don't know is that I don't have to do that yet.  I know that this is the best time of my life.  I don't know that other parents know that.