Today’s Thursday Thought responds to tax-weary people who don’t have kids but have to pay school taxes.
Tag Archive for school
How to Hurt a Vulnerable Child
An 8th grade girl in Rockdale Co., Georgia, received a trophy. Her classmates voted her “most likely to ask a question that has already been answered,” and the school included in its class trophies one for her saying “most likely ‘to not pay attention’.” All the trophies, including this one, were presented to the students at a school assembly.
Two teachers will not return to work there next year because of it. The girl’s mother was incensed. Any parent or friend of a vulnerable child would be horrified. Why? Because the girl has ADHD.
This was not just insensitive but also cruel. I hope the replacement teachers take the time to understand ADHD and that the school adopts a policy to educate its students and staff on all disabilities.
Our Kids: Our Top Priority
This is for some parents who haven’t seen this news story yet. You aren’t bad parents, just a product of our times. With work and friends and things to do, we’re glued to our phones. They’ve become so much a part of us that we don’t even notice when we’re on them
But our kids do. Especially when they’ve been at daycare, school, or otherwise away from us all day. They love us and miss us. And they feel unimportant to us when we ignore them in favor of our phone. Usually, we can finish up that business call before greeting them or ignore an incoming call for awhile–long enough for some kisses and hugs and what-did-you-do-todays on the way home.
Here’s the sign that a Houston TX daycare put on their door. It’s a good reminder that our kids are top priority in our lives.
Walking through 40 Countries
October is International Walk to School Month. 40 countries are encouraging kids and their parents to walk to school. Get out of your car, put a little neighborhood group together, and get the kids to school under their own foot-power. It’s healthy–for you AND for the earth.
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Help for Stressed-Out Teens
Do you have a teenager who is constantly stressed out about friends, school, and life in general? A recent study looked at what they call a “growth mindset,” something that teens can learn and practice. It makes a big difference.
Read about the study at “Can a Change in Mindset Help Teens De-Stress.”
What’s Wrong with Disinfectant Wipes?
Are disinfectant wipes safe for our kids? Do they do the job we want them to do? Are you using them properly? Is your child’s school using them properly? What’s in them? Do you really need them?
These and other questions are answered in “The Trouble with Disinfectant Wipes.” Before you buy another container of wipes, be sure to read this informative article.
Suspend that Kid!
If a kid breaks a school rule, suspend him! This is a bit of wisdom I’ve never quite understood, especially when I was teaching.
Let me get this straight. We believe that an education is the primary vehicle for success and that all kids should have access to it. In fact, studies show that education is the most sure way to lift a child out of poverty in his adulthood and make it more likely that his children will not have to grow up in poverty. We also know that kids who have pressures on them like poverty are the most likely to act out and earn detention.
Once off detention, a kid faces school staff who have labeled him a “troublemaker,” and he has work he must make up, taking time from already overburdened teachers. Some teachers or schools have policies that say that a kid may NOT make up any tests, homework, or other schoolwork missed while on suspension, which leaves a gap in skill/concept mastery that interferes with later mastery which is built on what he missed. His detention, then, has put him behind.
Sure, he might “learn his lesson” and not re-offend…maybe. But how many kids with behavior problems realize what they have missed and its importance?
Tell me again how suspension from school benefits a kid or the society he will live in as an adult?
A Glorious Day to Walk or Bike
Maybe you didn’t know that today is “International Walk or Bike to School Day.” 40 countries are encouraging kids and their parents to walk or bike to school. How often do 40 countries agree on anything?
If you didn’t know or forgot, how about tomorrow (and the next day and the next…)? Get out of your car, put a little neighborhood group together, and get the kids to school and home under their own foot-power. You may get to know a neighbor better, maker some play-dates, decide that J.J. Smythe is a kid you definitely want to keep away from your family–all sorts of things. You and the kids get a little fresh air and exercise. You save gas and wear-and-tear on your car (those stop/starts/jerks of both kinds involved in the drop-off are hard on your car).
Overall, it’s healthy–for you AND for the earth.
It’s the Parents’ Responsibility
The controversy isn’t new–it was brewing when I was teaching many, many years ago. The difference now is that there are several studies proving the obvious: kids are too tired to learn during their early morning classes.
The proposed solution is to start school later. The main argument I’ve heard against that is that it will mess up after-school activities, like sports and clubs. I’m not for it for another, more practical reason. That is, if school begins later, kids will con their parents into letting them stay up later, which defeats the purpose. I can hear it now–“Mom, Dad, school doesn’t start until 10:00 so I can stay up later because I can sleep late.”
If parents would stop giving in to kid-logic and make them go to bed at an earlier hour, the problem is solved. I’m a mom; I remember bedtime battles. But there are certain things we need to put our foot down about. A youngster’s being in an alert state so he/she can learn is one of those things. It’s up to parents to take responsibility.
Despite Law, Kids Can Avoid Vaccinations
My state, California, is mandating that all children be vaccinated before they can attend school. This means that the 80,000+ kids who have claimed personal exemptions no longer can do so. At first blush, it seems an infringement on rights. However, most of the families sought exemptions based on a bogus report written by a now-disgraced “scientist,” saying that vaccines cause autism and other maladies (scientifically proven wrong).
It’s been a clash of rights: for some families it’s freedom of choice vs., for other families, freedom from spreading disease (especially by unvaccinated children).
The 80,000+ still have ways to pursue their beliefs, however. They can home-school their kids or put them into off-campus independent studies.
I’m afraid there will be an additional avenue for people so inclined. Children with medical problems that make vaccinating harmful or impossible to them are still exempt. Therefore, if parents look hard enough, they’ll find an unscrupulous doctor who, for a price, will give his medical opinion that their child should not be vaccinated.
Can’t happen? How about all those doctors making a healthy living off of issuing medical marijuana cards to anyone who merely claims a debilitating condition?