Some miscellaneous thoughts

To start, I must clarify something I said in yesterday’s entry.  I do not believe that ALL doctors are arrogant with a God complex.   Didn’t mean to ruffle feathers – there are many wonderful conscientious doctors out there.  I’m sure you know who you are.  :)

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let me say a couple of things about toddlers.   Actually, I’ll say something about myself first.  There are many things I probably wasn’t great at when my kids were little.  Two things I was really good at was putting them to bed and getting them places on time, even as toddlers.   I don’t know why I was good at this, but we never had issues with it, with Maya or Ben.   So I don’t get using toddlers as an excuse to be late all the time.  As though somehow getting a two year old ready to go is an almost insurmountable task that will take an undetermined amount of time.  Every time.    I love my friends’ toddlers.  (A lot.  They are adorable little people)  I love my friends.  I don’t get the toddler running the schedule thing.   But then maybe they don’t get our need to be early everywhere we go, or my lack of discretion regarding soda and our semi-regular visits to McDonalds.

Our building had its’ annual holiday party this evening.  Ever since I was on the Board it has been my task to organize the kids side of the party.  Not too difficult – I bring goody bags, paper, markers and stickers and let them go to town.  Everyone seems to enjoy themselves.   Today I got to sit and talk with two moms I don’t know very well, both of whom have 4 year olds.   We talked about education (what else do parents talk about after the kid is potty trained?).   I told them about homeschooling, and they regaled me with stories of G&T tests for which you must sign up before a certain date and which are not publicized.  (That’s Gifted & Talented for those like me who had to ask.)  The only way you’d know about it is if you constantly checked the DOE website, or if you had your kid in preschool and they told you about it.   Then there is the re-zoning going on in our area to accommodate overcrowding in the local grammar school (PS199).  They’ve actually started a new public school a few blocks north – something like PS432 or “The Overflow School”.  I kid you not.  That’s what they are calling it.  And wouldn’t you love to be enrolled in ‘the overflow school’?   It’s like calling it the Leftover School.

There is a girl in our building with whom Maya is casually friendly.  She goes to a private girls school, and opted out of the party early this evening.  Apparently upset because she missed two questions on a science test.   Huh?   Her mother told the other kids she cries if she ‘only’ gets 99% on a test.  (This is not a family thing.  Her son, who goes to an all boys’ private school, is happy to score anything above a 70, according to his mother).   So is it pressure from the school, or just her personality?  Or a combination of both?   Might not bode well for the years to come.  One can’t be perfect all the time.

And finally, here’s a quote from Albert Einstein.  We would all do well to emulate him in this.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”

One comment on “Some miscellaneous thoughts

  1. Kristin says:

    Maybe consider the toddler thing just a different expression of unschooliness. You have kids who don’t want to do “schoolwork”–I have 2 kids who don’t want to leave the house when it’s time to go (only one of whom is a toddler). :)
    I could make them–and I generally do if it’s something with a definitive start time. But I don’t like to make kids do things against their will…so if it is, say, a playdate, or an open-ended event, I don’t worry about making them leave when it’s time if they are really resisting. That feels right to me, probably in the same way that it feels right to you to not restrict your kids’ intake of fast food or whatever.
    Similarly, my toddler frequently won’t go to bed. It’s 1:30 am and he is in my lap. Do I like it? NO. But that seems to be who he is right now. We find ways to make sure all our needs get met, not just his.
    Sorry if these things about our family push your family’s buttons–I’m sure that they probably do. They used to push mine, tremendously, before I had kids. Even when I’ve been toddler-free myself, I’ve found other people’s parenting choices easy to be annoyed with.
    I frequently re-evaluate our family’s priorities–my kids take a lot of classes and have a lot of structured time. We all thrive on that. But I do feel badly that there is not one thing, not ever, for the toddler. He just gets dragged around to whatever else we are doing. So if finishing a game or doing something before we go makes my little peeps happy, it makes me happy too. We’ll try to put our playtime with your kids more in the structured category so we don’t make you wait on us.
    Warmly,
    Kristin +3 kids

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