Need to write a list... C is out of town and I need to do the school project:
BUILD a CAR ---> transportation days at the school for the deaf, an excuse to go overboard. These projects are a combination of desperation, competition and guilt. They MUST be done. M-doll is really looking forward to it! It is all that she is talking about. I have been known to miss school on days that require too much parental involvement; I don't dig dressing up like a brown bear and dancing around. But other parents do! So then I wonder what is wrong with me? What is wrong with the system these days that requires SO much parental involvement... my folks, who are quite wonderful, NEVER did anything like this for my brother and me. It was a stretch to get picked up on time or go to an assembly.
The list:
What does a young girl's car need?
Pink
Pink
steering wheel
wheels
license plate
pink
headlights
glitter
straps, in pink, to make car wearable
tail lights
windshield
seatbelt <-- yep. the instructions call for a seatbelt. "Click it or ticket."
driver's license?
key?
Pictures to follow...
I think current educational pedagogical philosophy is all about parental involvment--I think it's based on current studies that show a link between parental involvement and higher achievement. Parental involvment currently has translated into parents being more visibly involved.
ReplyDeleteThis may or may not be related, but I find I devote a lot of time to the school because of fundraising concerns. (For example, today, my entire day will be devoted to preparing for tonight's school benefit event.) Maybe schools were better funded way back when we were kids? Or maybe there were far less enrichment programs. More is expected of kids these days, I think. But that's just my perspective. I went to lame schools, after all, unlike you and your brother.
M will have so much fun w/that car! Good luck w/it.
ReplyDeleteDidn't mean to sound bitter in my last post, but you know, I guess I am really, really angry that school parents have to constantly fundraise all year long (when there are so many productive things we could be doing), when billions of dollars have been diverted from the US infrastructure had have been needlessly wasted in Iraq. Now, I've got to get back to the fundraiser. I'm not even kidding.
I completely agree. It has become too much. The worst part of it is that the children feel that they don't really have to do much of anything. This part makes me ill -- witness some of my children's grades. They just don't seem to get it. Are we doing too much for them?
ReplyDeleteAbout the fund raising... I just don't buy the wrapping paper and never the sick chocolate, or cookie dough. Do you have that in NYC? I do like one big social/fundraising things a year but the rest of it seems never ending. The high school doesn't seem to do that as much as the grammar schools.
And I go bonkers (too mild) when I think of the amount of money that is going to ill conceived wars when there is so much that needs to be done here, in the USA. China is amazing in its response to the earthquake, where are we with our schools, pollution, roads, homeless, housing!? UGH. ... [self-edit]
HAHAHAHAHA! I didn't enjoy dressing up like a bear...not at all. I was pregnant at the time and I just looked like a big, fat bear. I do remember making that car, though. I thought I did a pretty good job until I got her to school and saw the other cars. It was my first experience with my first child at a "parent project". I had no idea!
ReplyDelete