My daughter started second grade today. The past two years, I have marked the first day of school with a blog post. I’m doing it again today, which, I think, makes it a tradition. The first first day of school, I wasn’t feeling very good about it, even though my daughter was excited. The second…
On the morning of March 14, 2018, students all over the country participated in a school walkout to protest gun violence and to honor the seventeen children killed in Parkland, FL. In a lot of ways, this was inspiring, seeing thousands of kids believe in a cause and actually try to do something about it….
The other day, I ran across this headline in The Onion: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” Of course, the story is about a mass shooting. This story originally ran almost four years ago, but they repost it every time it’s appropriate. I feel like I see it at…
Today was my daughter’s first day of first grade. I wrote about her first day of school last year. I reread the post because I was curious how this year compared to last year. Last year, I wrote about my feelings of guilt associated with sending my daughter to school. I’m happy to say that…
Today was my daughter’s first day of kindergarten. Although, she thinks tomorrow is her first day due to the weirdness of the schedule. Either way, she is very excited. I will be very upset at anyone who diminishes that excitement. It is wonderful to see her so excited. Sadly, I’m having a really hard time…
There was another mass shooting yesterday at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. I was going to write about it yesterday, but I was too sad and angry. I read that this is the 45th school shooting this year. That is shocking to me. I had only heard about a few of those. Apparently school shootings…
Some time between my childhood and now, the kid economy disappeared. When I was young, I had a paper route and I shoveled driveways. When I was in high school, I scooped ice cream and when I was in college, I washed dishes and cooked. I had friends that were lifeguards, camp counselors, mowed lawns, etc. Now, most…
There are certain basic life skills everyone should have. It’s one of the major failures of our educational system that many people lack them. What’s worse is that most people are never offered the opportunity to learn these skills in school. This list is far from complete, but it’s a start. 1. Sewing – I’m…
