Thank You Abby Hurlburt!

Got a really sweet email from Turner's third and fourth grade teacher. She sent me the poem below and reminded me that "Turner's always been talented." What a sweet, small gift during this incredibly hectic time of year. I was deeply moved.

The First Snowfall
Silent snow drifting across the winter wonderland
Racing outside to a soft blanket of snow
Trudging uphill with my sled
Zipping down the crystal clear hills
Laughing and having fun

by Turner French, 2008

School Communication

I know it is not surprising that I would have strong opinions about school communication, since a) I have been a director of communication for a school for the last 10 years, b) I'm a mom to two kids in school, and c) I'm generally known to have very strong opinions.

Last week, my youngest was bullied in the bathroom at school. I am talking full on: verbal abuse, hitting, kicking... the works. And you know how I found out about it? Not from the school. Not from my son. I found out from my neighbor's son who hollared, "I heard H got beat up in the bathroom," as he was running across the lawn between his house and ours.

I can totally appreciate and respect H's desire to not be known as the kid who got beat up in the bathroom. He just didn't want to talk about it. But what possible reason is there for the school to not communicate proactively with parents in this instance? I just don't get it.

Coincidentally, I am in the midst of writing grades and comments for the students I teach at Watkinson School. I took great care to write deliberately and specifically to each of the students I was grading. As I was doing this, I considered how H's situation would have been handled by the Dean of Students at Watkinson. There is no way our dean would have let H come home and not have communicated with us first.

I am so disappointed in the system that educates our children in Wallingford. Since I complain so much, I decided to join the PTAC at my eldest's middle school. PTAC is a process and structure that really appears to work well. When I participate in these conversations, I get cautiously optimistic that positive change is afoot. Then my youngest gets knocked around in the boys' bathroom and no one communicates with me, and I am instantly back in that frustrating and frustrated place.

Do not undervalue proactive, transparent communication...I implore you to expect it from your child's teachers and administrators.

Back to School Musings by Paul

This post is by my guest blogger, who also happens to be my husband, Paul. 

Today always reminds me of this old Staples commercial. Classic! And funny because it rings true (at least a little bit) with every parent I know.

Anyone with children has experienced it: Toward the end of the summer, our kids begin to sit in front of the TV a little longer … they bicker a little more frequently … they miss their friends from school.  It’s time to go back. We all know it in our gut.

And yet, there’s a sadness to the first day of school. It signals the end of the relatively carefree days of summer. ANOTHER summer gone. We’re 8 months through another year. Where does the time go? Our kids are growing up way too fast! Is it possible that next year I’ll have one in Middle School and one in High School!? It just doesn’t seem possible.

This snowball of a thought process is why this time of year also puts me in mind of eternity. Call me weird … it’s just how my mind works. To borrow from another commercial: Life comes at you fast. I find it scary to think about just how fast life moves. It’s like that line in the song “Fireflies”: “I’d like to make myself believe, that planet Earth turns slowly.” But it doesn’t. It moves fast. Really fast. And so, I lapse into this momentary sadness and it threatens to envelope me. But then something else takes over. It’s a kind of excitement. In fact, it’s why I don’t hate going through this whole thought process every September.

You see, the first day of school – in the midst of the separation anxiety I’m feeling from missing my kids – also reminds me to take stock in what’s important in life. For me, it becomes another opportunity to stop and appreciate my family and friends and, more importantly, to re-energize my faith. To thank God for His many blessings and to think about how, in return, I can bless others in His name. This is why I’m here … why I exist. And, so, in a way not intended by Staples … I do indeed count this as the most wonderful time of year.