I am not down on school (sort of)

OK, I am not down on the school system, it is just really different than it used to be.  I have 7 kids.  Things have radically changed since I sent my first one off to school 100 years ago.  (maybe more like 25 years), yeah, I'm that old.

Because I have a million kids and I have moved a million times, I have seen alot of school stuff.

OK, we used to be able to volunteer without being treated like criminals, you know background checks.  I know they are doing that for a reason, but it's a little weird to old people like me.

We used to be able to bake crap like cakes and cookies, that is totally against the new rules.  Everything must be "prewrapped".  No peanuts due to "peanut allergies".

No costumes on Halloween in some schools.  No reference to Santa, witches, leprachans, bunnies who bring candy or anything else that represents "fun". 

I find it hard to believe that my generation is messed up because we believed in the Easter Bunny.  Maybe those witch costumes I so proudly created along with the Leprechan suits I sewed are the reason I got divorced? I think I can blame Santa on my smoking and of course the tooth fairy is the reason I like to drink.



Thank you school system for figuring this all out for me.  This has saved me thousands of dollars in counseling sessions.

I think that the fact I spent hours playing on the swingset is the underlying reason I have an anger control issue.  Holy crap thanks again.

I won't even touch the whole Mary Poppins issue.

The fact that I can't spell anymore and have no idea where in the hell the quotation marks go is due to the fact that I ate way too many cream cheese and jelly sandwiches at lunchtime and over the period of years it has eaten away what little brain cells I started with.

Once again, I thank you.

OK, a million years ago when all the cavekids went to caveschool (back in the 70's and 80's), we had to behave on the bus or Big John would have you kicked off, it was that simple, he knew your parents and that was enought to scare anyone.  If you didn't eat your sandwich out of your crumpled up brown paper bag, Mrs. Miller would tell your mom, once again, she lived down the street from us.

The principal went to Fish Fry on fridays with
Grace's parents and the Priest at Bible school called my mom by her first name (am i scaring the crap out of you yet?)

If someone was a bully to your friend, you kicked the crap out of them.  Just ask my sister.  I shoved the neighbor out of the bus window (totally on accident).  How was I to know he was sitting in the seat with the "swinging window".  He never bothered anyone on the bus after that.

How do they think kids are supposed to learn how to stick up for themselves?

Do they really think that eventually we didn't know that the Easter Bunny was pretend?  I know of one kid who still believes, he's got a great job in Tennesee making a ton of money doing something no one else in the class has any idea about.

Let's get a grip. 

Too many attorneys,  too many wimpy parents.

When these kids go out in the world do you think that their jobs are not going to have situations where they may have to stick up for themselves? 
Do you think that maybe at some point in their lives they may be short on money and may have to eat cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for a while?

The whole fat kid thing is another blog in itself.  We ate the most crap of any generation.  I was never fat.  Our TV time was very limited, we played outside, we ran around and played dodgeball in gym, we rode these things called bikes. Not just in parks, but in driveways.  Our bikes were our only modes of transportation until you got a car.  We didn't get cars at 16.  We worked at jobs and saved up money and bought cars.  We bought crappy cars, then saved up more money and bought better less crappy cars.

Toss out those DS games and limit TV and computer time and make kids go outside.  Better yet, go outside with them.  Now there's a thought. I got a note home from school yesterday with a form for the kids to take "Zumba" or Rumba or something to that effect.  It cost 50 bucks a kids.  You have got to be kidding me. 

Here was our workout schedule when I was growing up. 

Summer:  throw haybales all summer, swim, ride bikes, pick weeds in the garden, walk to the neighbors house. Mow the 5 acres of lawn with a push mower.

Fall:  stack firewood, ride bikes, walk while trick or treating, stack more firewood.  Pick more weeds, stack more wood.

Winter:  bring in firewood, feed cows hay you stacked all summer, bring in more firewood, go sledding, bring in more firewood.

Oh yeah Spring:  Rake stones off lawn, feed cows hay, get ready for Easter Bunny. 

I have to go, the cream cheese is thawing out on the table and I have to make 3 witch costumes for Halloween. I have to go put some quarters under Izzy's pillow from the dreaded tooth fairy.

I am an old diehard.

Please excuse me.

Talk later,

Annie