Gee, Beaver!

A while back my son and some of his buddies from 6th grade spent the day together. They had attended an elementary charter school so they are now attending various middle schools. In retrospect, 6th grade was the end of the age of innocence in their lives. They had been together since first grade and had developed strong friendships. They genuinely liked and respected each other despite their differences. Most of them were now facing more grown up realities in middle school that in some cases are to say the least – a bit harsh.

Watching the boys that day was so heart warming. They playfully competed and kidded each other. They felt comfortable and accepted. None of them wanted the day to end. It reminded me of the 50’s TV show ‘Leave it to Beaver’. Back when kids played and got dirty from good old fashion outdoor play (my son thinks outdoor play is when he takes his laptop out to the back porch). Kids said ‘gee’, and ‘swell’ and Beaver’s favorite, ‘goofy’. Kids were respectful to adults (although Eddie Haskell did push it to the limits).

The reality is that eventually most if not all of them will grow further and further apart and soon these days of past will disappear in their memories. It makes me sad. The innocence will fade as life becomes more complicated and at times harder. I don’t want the days of innocence to end. I want these boys to continue to feel comfortable and accepted. Gee, why does life have to be so goofy?

No Kidding Sherlock

Well, not exactly how I would say it, but close enough. It has been over three months since I started my quest to obtain a seat for my son on his overcrowded school bus. The last update had him assigned a seat and the bus driver enforcing that seat assignment – at least Brandon’s seat assignment. That went very well and for over a month things having been going smoothly – no problems.

That of course, is when Transportation chooses to take action. I guess they figured the bus was overcrowded - no kidding Sherlock! They pulled Brandon’s bus stop and moved it to a different bus. Not that I disagree. The overcrowded bus situation was only being temporarily relieved by the participation of a large group of students in track. The bus was and always has been overcrowded. It just to the kids on the bus, who live in the moment, it seemed illogical to make the change when everything has been going good. As I said before ‘No wonder kids think adults are idiots – we are!’

I have to admit I had a big grin on my face when I heard my son describe the strictness of the new bus driver. He basically read the new kids the riot act and announced ‘he would respect them if they respected him’. I could hardly contain my glee! This was a man after my own heart! He knew what I knew all along. The only way to handle middle schoolers, who lack fully developed frontal lobes, was to lay down the law on day one. Take no prisoners.

Of course, my son, after listening to my thoughts on the subject, rolled his eyes and put his hands in what we now call the ‘I should get a video of this’ stance.

Got Seat?

Back in August I spent four long days trying to get my son a seat on the school bus. It seems there are so many kids riding this bus that unless they are placed just right, they don’t fit. I wrote an article called 'Got Seat? - A Mother's Quest to Secure a Seat on the School Bus for Her Son’. It was a form of therapy for me. Here’s an excerpt which describes how a Transportation supervisor ‘fit’ the kids on the bus:

‘My son advised that someone came on the bus this afternoon and rearranged them so they would all fit on the bus. He said several kids were very tightly crammed three to a seat. No seat assignments were given. Ok, let’s go over this. You have a bus full of middle schoolers. The ones with absolutely no frontal lobes that they choose to isolate at a school for two years. You rearrange them by size on the bus like a puzzle until they all fit. The skinny kids get the short end of the stick because they look like three of them can be crammed into one seat. I can just hear her saying ‘I need another fat kid over here!’ Then you tell them ‘See, you can all fit!’ No wonder kids think adults are idiots – we are!’

Despite seat finally being assigned, Brandon continued to struggle to get a seat and continued to describe what seemed to be a free for all on the bus as the bus driver did not seem to enforce the bus rules. Sooo… we arranged for a meeting with the bus driver and his supervisor.

The bus driver was the stereotypical bus driver. I won’t go into detail but I swear everyone describes their childhood bus driver using the same characteristics. This bus driver made it clear that no one tells him how to run his bus. After some pretty ugly scenes between him and Papa Bear, not to mention a couple of verbal swats from the growling Mama Bear, it was decided that he would enforce the bus rules (and the seating assignments) and follow the procedures for addressing violations of bus rules. Did I mention that that was in his job description, therefore, was his job?

We do not have a lot of confidence that things will turn around but remain cautiously optimistic. It takes a lot of energy on our part to pursue these issues. Most parents would just drive their kids to school or tell them to deal with it. Sad, isn’t it?

Same thing seems to be happening with the financial state of the nation. Most people do not want to protest in any way in fear that it would be perceived as civil disobedience. Some of these people are the same people who back in the 60’s and 70’s protested about everything (those were the days!). We just keep on voting the same idiots that got us into this mess back into office and complaining about how things never change. (I saw a sign on the news the other day that I really liked. It said ‘We can’t fix stupid – but we can vote them out of office’.)

As I said before ‘No wonder kids think adults are idiots – we are!’