Motivation Part Two - Be Careful What You Wish For

So here it is almost a week after my daughter's getting up early for a field trip. A week older and a week wiser. Well, older anyways.

The day after the early rising, my elder daughter was up early once again. Of my 2 daughters she is the one that will wake up and actually be functional. My younger daughter will briefly sit up in a daze before nodding off and snuggling back in. So in an ironic twist, on that next morning I had my elder daughter jumping on my bed saying "Daddy, time to get up. Get up, get ready, get dressed"... That was about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Using her desire to get to school early for free time with her friends worked! Note: Be careful what I wish. I was now the turtle being prodded out of bed early.

Well, the day after that was a little more normal. I got to sleep until my alarm sounded, but once again I was coaxed by my daughters. Both of them this time. It was TGI Friday after all. An especially fun morning. But after that the weekend was the usual sleep in.

Since then all it's taken is a bit of "should we get to school early for morning free time" to get them to school with time to spare.

Family Life Education

Last night I went to "Parent Information Night". My 4th grade daughter will soon be having a one hour "Puberty Lesson" at her school. My daughter relayed what she understands it will be. "The boys go off and learn about boy things and the girls learn about their period".

Thinking back to my 4th grade sex ed ... wait a second! There wasn't any! My sex ed at school wasn't until 6th grade. And I remember the banter over mine being the first grade school class to get that. Now it is a 4th grade topic? So how relevant is it for a 9 -10 year old to be educated about sex? Apparently with all the chemicals and stuff we eat nowadays kids are maturing earlier. Many girls are getting their periods at age 8. I think somebody needs to lighten up on some of those chemicals.

So us parents were told about how the special teachers will be explaining body changes, body functions, and preparing the kids for what to expect but would not really broach the S-E-X topic. No talk about intercourse and such. We were given and shown some of the materials. There was some confusion when they included some of the "5th grade" materials too. We were asked if there was anything we were uncomfortable about. Boy, did that open things up! First of all, my assessment is that dealing with this over the next 8 years or so will be uncomfortable. Nothing is going to fix that. So it is better to face the changes questions as they come naturally. Don't force topics but don't avoid them. But at that point I didn't have to say anything. The room was filled with mostly Moms voicing concerns about ... everything.

So, why was I, a dad with 2 daughters even there? Well ... as an aspiring "understanding Dad" I am also interested in knowing what is ahead. I know that most of my dealings on these matters will be "you should go talk with your mom". But I wanted to know what they were going to be told so I could be ready for the inevitable changes and questions too.

Plus, as one of the teachers said "They talk about it. They already know more than you think"...

Howdy GW!

I heard a radio snippet of President Bush asking for moderation on the illegal immigrants issue. Something about how the United States was formed by immigrants who were given a new chance... Thanks for reading my blog, George! Did you catch my other suggestions about Mexico?