Monday, November 4, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen...fasten your seatbelts.


A while back I received a newsletter from the middle school, some of the tidbits in the letter struck me as odd, maybe even dated.  For example: "Pleasant good-byes can set the tone for the day. Get in the habit of saying, “Have a terrific day!” before going off to school and work."  See what I mean?....dated.  I mean I say love you or have a great day but I have always done that.  Can you imagine if your parents had never made a point to do this and tomorrow out of the blue they start with “Have a terrific day!” that your reaction would be "HUH?"  But I digress.

After all WHO wrote this?  Now granted the Principal doesn't have all the time in the world to be writing a whimsical newsletter or to make one sound as if he was update and cool so I was rather curious. At the bottom I found my answer, it was from an education resource company on the east coast.  So basically there is someone on the east coast thinking this stuff up or perhaps re-reading 1950's magazines for some 'new' ideas?

By now I was truly curious as to what else the newsletter requested of me.  So I went back to the top and continued reading on, reading regurgitated information....After all this has been said over and over again for years.   Give your kids a happy healthy environment and life will be a bed of roses, really do you believe that?

Then there it was..... perched at the bottom of the page in the font meant for important matters, my favorite part:
Tip: If your middle grader is uncomfortable seeing you at his activities, volunteer
for others. Or work behind the scenes — you could be on a parent committee
that meets while he’s not even at school.
WHAT!?!?!?!  Did you really just tell me that I am an embarrassment to my child and that  I should hide where he isn't offended by me?  That this is okay?  Are we back in the 19th century but only now it's 'Parents should not be seen or heard'?

By this time you can imagine what the neighbors are saying....because they can hear my reaction from a mile away. Can you blame me?  What are they teaching our kids, if the newsletter is telling me, I make my kids uncomfortable?  Isn't that my job? to make my kids uncomfortable? Comfortable people never grow and stretch, they don't test their boundaries.... they are complacent.

I want to be with my kids.  I want them to be proud of my help.  I want them to be willing to kiss me goodbye in public....oh wait....mine are all these things.  But why is that?  BECAUSE I don't allow them to stuff me in a closet or hide me away.  When my eldest son entered 3rd grade a mom told me in the hallway that she wasn't "allowed" to walk him to his classroom.  She thought this was "cute"... I was appalled.  It isn't cute, it's scary.  How did this 8 year old ever get in the position of telling his mom what to do?  Because she allowed it.

So folks, take it from me, don't let your kids parent you.  Parent them.  They will thank you for it.

Ladies and Gentlemen we are about to land....please return your tables and chairs to an upright position and stow your pride.  We should be landing in Parent Central in 2 minutes.  Thanks for flying with us!

~Lynn


2 comments:

  1. My sixteen still sometimes will walk to the shops and hold my hand or put his arm around me, he has to put it over me as I look up to my 6 ft four inch son now. And he will kiss me goodbye in public and tell me he loves me. When I gave a talk at his school on the development and invention process through to manufacture to a class he does not attend he got his teacher to allow him to come the the presentation. He came home and gave me an assessment of what he thought and told me that one of his class wanted a game and he thought that was cool. My youngest loves to do lots of things with me, he will even cup my cheek and tell me I am precious and that he loves me in public. They are both great kids. While we do lots of fun things together they know that what I say goes and that I am mum, and that if they don't do what I ask them to do there will be consequences. There are times for tender love and there are times for tough love. Our kids need both.
    Ann.

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  2. Love this. ........
    . Thanks for sharing that the Aussie parenting is the same as here!

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