As the mother of a kindergartner, I can say that I absolutely see the value of pre-k education for ALL children. I thought Ben had a decent pre-k education, but I soon found out I was wrong. We've been catching up all year; I can only imagine how far behind a child with no pre-k education would fall.
Please, please help spread the word.
I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived.
- Henry David Thoreau
My son Ben is having troubles keeping his hands to himself (among so many other things). The kid seems to go through phases where he has absolutely NO self discipline. It's wearing. It's constant work to help him learn self control. To constantly coach, cheer, discipline, moderate.
We're getting professional help. We want him to be healthy and happy. He's a great kid. But I can't do it on my own any more and I want so much more for him.
That's where my focus will be for awhile.
Andie
Is you, my darling, sparkled, pink beauty!
And world peace, universal healthcare, and a sense of humor for all.
One of my uber christian neighbors (and yes, I have more than one) has a little boy that I'll call Joey. Joey and Ben are the same age, and they really like playing together. They see each other at the park and in the neighborhood often.
Joey is a nice enough kid with nice enough parents. But Joey is starting to preach about the bible to my son. My 5 year old son, who's family is not uber christian. Or even a little bit christian for that matter.
Joey recently told Ben that if he didn't read the bible, he would not grow. Ben took this literally, and started freaking out about it. He was scared that he'd stay the same height forever if he didn't read the damn bible. I didn't say anything to Joey's mom because, well, we live in an area of town with a high population of christians, and the bible thing was bound to come up sooner or later. Mick dug out his old bible, showed it to Ben, and we had some long talks about beliefs and respect for others.
A couple of weeks ago, Ben told me that Joey said there is no such thing as Santa. I should've seen this coming as Joey's family doesn't delve much into the secular world. I was unprepared for my kid to get this kind of Santa info so young though. I decided to tell Ben that everyone has different beliefs, and our family believes in Santa. Ben seemed to take that just fine, especially given the history he already has with Joey.
Last week, Joey came over with his little sister and his dad. Joey brought up the Santa thing, and again stated that Santa wasn't real. Ben looked at me with this confused and hurt look that made me want to hurl the kid out of my home. Joey's dad heard the exchange, and said nothing. Nada. Zip. I wanted to chuck the dad out of my house too. Instead, I told Ben again that everyone has different beliefs, and Joey doesn't have to believe in Santa if he doesn't want to. Once Joey left, Ben and I talked about how the little boy in The Polar Express couldn't hear the Christmas bells because he didn't believe in Santa.
Cut to yesterday afternoon. The kids and I are out in the front yard when Joey and his dad walk by. Ben says he has to run inside, and before I know what's happening, Ben is running back outside with some Christmas bells. He runs over to Joey, rings the bells in his face, and says, "JOEY! JOEY! CAN YOU HEAR THE BELLS JOEY? CAN YOU? YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU? OH JOEY! YOU CAN'T HEAR THE BELLS!" Ben was earnest, I was almost doubled over with the effort of trying not to laugh, and once again, Joey's dad was mute. I couldn't take it anymore and called the kids inside. As I was putting Ben to bed, he brought up Santa again. He's so sad that poor little Joey doesn't believe. And he's having doubts too, although he really, really wants to believe.
Here's my dilemma: I genuinely want nothing to do with Joey or his family anymore. But they are my neighbors, we have mutual friends, and the kids like each other. I want to call up Joey's mom and ask her to talk to her kid about respecting other people's beliefs (or non-beliefs as it may be). I am afraid that I'd end up saying something about how her kid ruined my kid's Christmas though, and then it would get ugly. I don't want to go there. Am I better off keeping my mouth shut and trying to keep my distance, or should I talk to her?
Maybe I'll teach Ben about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and he'll start preaching Pastafarianism to little Joey. That would surely shut him up.
Shhhh....
Fifi is just now falling asleep for her nap and anything I do right now has to be extra quiet or the nap is BLOWN. No dishes. No laundry. No taking out the garbage, vacuuming, sweeping, putting toys away.*
So what do I do with this valuable quiet time? Surf. And because I am impatient, I usually surf more than one thing at a time. Many times I'll Google something or someone just to see what pops up, while simultaneously reading a blog. Today, just for kicks, I googled "grumppopotamus". And guess what I found?
