Re: My baby started Kindergarten today.
Yesterday Katelyn came home from school with a little chip on her shoulder, talking about all the things that she had already known before she went to school. We had been teaching her a lot of the kindergarten stuff back when she was 2, working with letter recognition, and other things, numbers, object, ect.. We had a lot of time back then to do those sorts of things. She came home yesterday and we were talking about the days of the week, and since there is a carnival in one of the local river towns this weekend we were talking about how many days until then, and Katelyn was bragging about how she knew that tomorrow was thursday (this was yesterday) and she didn't have to recite the entire list of the days of the week to determine that. It was so cute, and yet so telling of things to come! We have so much video of our girls, and I just wish that I had the time to put together a "highlights" clip of the funniest things she's ever said! Tomorrow (Friday) is show and tell day, my favorite time when I was a kid, and i'm looking forward to what she wants to take to school.
I was a little hesitant to put her in Catholic private school back when we were deciding what to do. My wife grew up in Catholic schools, and I went to public schools. I believe that 20 years ago public schools were a bit better than they are now, the schools in my area have low test scores and I believe that the majority of the problem is less the schools, and more the parents problems. That really pushed me to the private schools, it's expensive, but we'll manage. The quality of the education is what matters. There are too many easy alternatives to good parenting these days. Too many channels on the TV, too many video game options, and not enough education. I don't know how I managed to be so focused on what is truly right for my girls. We have no cable, only educational DVD's. Megan is watching Sesame street right now while she finishes breakfast. Later i'm going to read some books to her, and we'll play barbies too. I'm going to load some rounds while she takes her nap so I can shoot today after the wife comes home from work.
Some of you talk about your teenagers. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm extremely defensive of my girls, and working on the self control part. I'm not opposed to drop kicking a 6 year old boy if he calls my daughter a poo poo head. Yes, I have issues. Imagine what'll happen when my daughter gets her heart broken by the "cute boy in class" who's playing the "how many girls can I date in 1 week" game (I was that boy, hence the reason god gave me girls.....as punishment).
I'm really not afraid for my oldest, she's very smart, and has great direction. I think she'll go through life making the good decisions, and make me a proud daddy. Megan on the other hand, will likely have a tattoo when she's 10, date a boy with a blue mohawk 6 years older than she is when she's 16, and cause me to end up either crazy or in jail. She likes to do everything that I tell her not to do just for the attention, as if she doesn't get enough already.
Branden
