Kids are going back to school. Parents are celebrating everywhere.
K-Man is only four (almost), but the school issue has been echoing throughout the halls of our house since before he was born. If you don’t get your kid on a pre-school waiting list at the time of conception, there’s a chance he/she won’t get into the school of your choice. (There are some who argue that you should call to book your spot in mid-coitus. Just to be safe.) We started late and didn’t initially look into schools until after K-Man was born. What were we thinking? Now, finally, he’s gotten into the school we want (read: the most convenient one for our commute).
The whole school/education issue is a daunting one for parents. (Of course, it’s made more daunting by the fact that California has agreed to cease all education funding and, instead, seems to be heading toward relying on kids to simply educate themselves.) We want our kids to have the best education to give them the best opportunities to…well, I was going to write, “get jobs,” but that doesn’t seem to be the case, either. Let’s go with that anyway. Good education leads to good opportunities.
As parents, we’re sometimes petrified of making the wrong decisions for our kids. Even now, as we finally got K into this new school, we’re worried that he’s going to miss his best little buddy (we’ll call him H). K & H are peas in a pod. (Though, I’ve often wondered – is there any real research to show that peas in a bod actually like each other? I mean, just because they’re right next to each other doesn’t mean they necessarily get along. Maybe that one pea is just hoping the other gets eaten first. But I digress.) Suffice to say, we worry that we’re going to mess up the kid by removing him from his best buddy.
And that’s just for a four year old.
What about when K gets older? Should we move from our current location to be in a better school system? Should we be thinking about private school? Should we leave the state? The questions come faster than steroid-induced (allegedly) fastballs from Roger Clemens. As we were discussing this yesterday, a friend told me we have two main responsibilities as parents: Shelter and education. The rest? Eh.
Right now, though, for most parents – education isn’t so much about the opportunities for their kids. It’s about getting their kids out of the house again and the opportunities it provides for the parents. I’m guessing massage appointments in Marin might be hard to come by these days.
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