summer is a parent’s worst nightmare

…that according to one of the parents in line next to me last weekend. we were all waiting to sign up our children for swim lessons.  parents from my neighborhood, parents who didn’t mind standing in the drizzle, parents just like me…here are a few snippets from the conversations swirling around me:

my daughter’s taekwando master wants her to spar competitively. how old is your daughter?  she’s five.

on getting into kindergarten–we did the interview, then she had to do a self-portrait.  then we were called back for a second interview.  we went on the 90 minute school tour.  i mean i had to see what really goes on in those classrooms.

from the very beginning they teach the students mediation–how to get an objective peer to help solve the problems.  that’s great if you want to shelter your kid, but that’s not the real world.

well, you have golf lessons and tennis lessons.  this is the only time for swim lessons.

how is that [elementary] school?  is there a lot of drug and gang activity?

the gulf that opened up just seemed huge!  would my choices seems just as crazy to them?  i felt quite alone in the sea of parents.

(this rather boring picture is just full of wonderful people who are a part of lives because we happened to rent our house on Princeton instead of the top floor of the white house next to the post office or the duplex near the park.)

when we came home, the mail had come.  i had a lovely letter, book recommendations, and an essay (“The Wrong Way to Teach Worldview” by Martin Cothran, found here)  from a dear friend waiting for me.  then as the sky cleared a bit we headed to the farmer’s market to hear The Carrier Pigeons and dance with our neighbors.  ah!  i really was  home.

One Comment

  1. you know, i hear that “oh nooooooo summer is soooooo awful” all. the. time. and it gives me a twinge to hear parents say it .. especially when their children can hear!

    it boggles the mind that parents whose children are normally gone all day are irritated by having them around more often.

    i had a parent tell me that she dreaded holidays because it was “just us” (she and her husband and their two children!). !!!

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