today i went to the principal! kinda like the old days....only not so much! thankfully, it was by appointment! i made the appointment, i didn't get called in.
it was early this morning, not early in the school year. after a long year of school with a freshman in high school, biff and i thought it was time to take ourselves to see the wizard!
only, at the last minute....biff could not attend to see behind the curtain. i was on my own since biff had some big biz to take care of....skype-biz. now, that i wanted to stick around for....he was calling a meeting with a chinese gentleman in hong kong and a rumanian man in connecticut! now that was a meeting worth listening to! the accents listening to accents, with everyone a foreigner to the other! that's what makes the world tick! no speakerphone......
so, off to the principal i went. a woman principal....a very diminutive woman with a very soft voice and a big stick!
she was not a nun!
she was not the wizard...she did not have all the answers. she did have lots of questions and so did i. i could talk to a principal of a high school age bunch of students all day long....what an amazing bit of the up and coming world she must see.
thankfully, we both see eye to eye! we both have children that we care about...and we both have high standards...and we both want to do our best to see to it that our kids get every opportunity to do their best!
with that said, it was a wonderful meeting. we're in a wonderful place with wonderful schools and wonderful test scores and wonderful sports and wonderful extracurricular activities.....so, why was i there?
it's not really a wonderful world...especially if you're a teenager. there is so much of the world coming at them all...everyday! cell phones, t.v., plugged in phones, i-touch, i-phone, blackberries, i-pads, internet, facebook, you tube, videos, d.v.d.'s....do they even pass plain old fashioned notes anymore?
what about t.v.? 2.3 billion channels. not in our house. but, they're out there....oh, remember newspapers and magazines...those too.
today, we talked about freshman and coaches and teachers and community service and activities....and friendships....and real life.
wow! that's a lot to take in... a lot.
it's a long yellow brick road to navigate...for the kids...and certainly for us...the parents!
we only want them safe. we only want them taken care of. we only want them to be with people we trust...and friends that will make good decisions with them.
we want to protect our children...from all that's out there.
and in here...in the nice town...with mostly nice kids...and mostly nice parents...and the mostly nice test scores...and the mostly nice teams...and the mostly nice activities...and the mostly nice everything.....
today, i felt comfort. comfort in the knowledge that we have people who care....not just about all but about the individuals.
i don't want special.....o.k., i do. i would like to have my kids in the safe world at montessori....until college! i would like to know that they are sitting around the circle...on the neat yellow line. staying on the line...as the boundary. our kids liked the yellow line....not all of the kids did. lots of kids wanted to test the yellow line....they didn't always want to sit at the yellow line at story time. not everyone like to go by the rules...all of the time. that's why it was nice to have someone to trust through tumultuous days......and tired times....and cranky kids. the teacher had a firm grasp of the yellow line...and how it worked...to reel the little people in. the kids learned from the yellow line. most of the kids.
so, today....it was nice to talk about the yellow line...for big kids. the principal confirmed that that's what they are...just big kids. in a big world. the yellow line helps the kids. it's not drawn as clearly as when they were at montessori.
it's clear for our kids. but there will be tests. i had tests. biff had tests. some tests we aced....some took longer to sink in and follow the line that was not always in big bold paint.
we just pray. we pray that we have taught them. we pray that we have taught them well enough. we want our sweet loving kids, little kids inside....in a big, big world....to maneuver and balance in this big, big world. we want them to remember the guidelines they've had along the way. we want to believe they've heard us along the way. we want to believe they've watched us along the way....we want to believe we've been good models on the line. we want them to be safe.
it's a fine line.
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