My oldest son likes to go to intermurals in the morning before school. It is a great program because middle school around here does not get out until after 4. After school activities are really hard to fit in. Almost all of the clubs meet before school. And on days your club(s) don't meet, they have organized sports for the kids. So every morning, one of us takes our son to school so he can participate. For some reason this morning, traffic just wasn't working right. (Probably a few too many timid left turners...) Now, if I had realized this would be the case, I would have taken my cell phone and calendar, and while I was waiting to get out of the parking lot, I could have scheduled all sorts of dentist and doctors appointments. I could have called my mom and talked to her. But, I figured I would be in and out in a couple of minutes as usual.
While I was sitting there listening to my new cd, I remembered my sister talking about getting back onto the base in Germany after Sept. 11, 2001. My sister did not like the base preschool, so she took her son to the local German preschool. She taught at the base high school. After Sept 11, 2001, every car coming onto the base had to be searched. It took her sometimes an hour to get back onto base. So she took her books with her and did her lesson planning in the car. Here is the funny thing about it... The class she was teaching was time management. And here she was practicing it every morning.
Tomorrow, I will bring my cell phone and calendar, and traffic will flow as usual. However, I don't want to discourage my son from participating in as many things as he can handle. Especially when during the sex ed talk a few weeks ago they presented a statistic that said that kids who are busy and lead active lives tend not to engage in risk taking behaviors like drinking, drugs, and sex. Of course, my parents knew that without any statistics which would explain why I can play the piano and the viola, and I took dance and drama classes for years, not to mention sang in the church choir. There are evenings when I wish my son was taking my sister's time management class. I think they should add that to the middle school curriculum.
One more thing, I really managed to crack up the guy at the soccer store the other day. I went in to exchange a shirt my son's team had bought for my husband, the coach. It was too small, so I just needed a larger size. Little did I realize how much my daughter thought she NEEDED a green soccer ball. My husband coaches two teams, not to mention the neighborhood games that go on in our yard almost every night. So we have a lot of soccer balls, probably 10 or so. None of them are bright green, though. Anyway, I had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming. I finally looked at her and said, "Who do you think you are, Mia Hamm?" The guy behind the counter started laughing so hard he had to lean on the counter to keep from falling over. Glad I could make your day, sir! I really want to go back to the store to get some Christmas presents, but I am afraid to take her back in there.
4 comments:
It sounds like a green soccer ball would make a great Christmas present. I agree with you about teens needing a passion to keep them out of trouble. It's a dangerous world out there for kids.
O.K. - I am laughing with tears in my eyes over the Mia Hamm commetn too!
Thanks for a nice peek into your world.
Back in the pre-cellphone days, I used to buy annual NYT crossword puzzle appointment books. It was fabulous to have something worthwhile to occupy my mind during the long waits in carpool lines, waiting room exile, etc. Your post took me back to those days when I didn't have much time to waste.
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