Archive for May, 2011
Should I Invest in a Leotard for My Daughter?
Other than wishing to be a true princess, from my experience the next thing a young inspiring girl can wish for is to be a gymnast. Gymnasts are so amazingly strong, talented and courageous. As they take to their stage, they go up with confidence showing the world what a great job they can do.
Gymnasts are so graceful and stylish. They move with such grace along the balance beam that it seems like it is as natural as walking on the ground. But, they don’t just walk across a balance beam. As the young gymnast progresses, she leaps, turns, does cart-wheels and front hand springs all along it. Many young girls practice for hours and hours a day learning tricks and self-confidence in order to really succeed being a gymnast. As the young athletes get older they really do become quite the athletes. Not only do they spend a lot of time on the balance beam or on the floor doing routines, but they spend a lot of time in the gym. Anyone doing as much performing as them, really need to be in great shape. Great shape is both a physical and mental attribute that they need to obtain.
My Daughter’s Report Card, Myself
The greatest surprise to me as a parent of children at the HIGH PERFORMING MAGNET SCHOOL is the amount of pressure there is on me and my academic performance, as it will be channeled through the brains and pencils of my innocent 2nd grader and kindergartner. The magic ingredient, besides good teaching, in those high test scores that the school touts is…(wait for it)…(okay, on with it)…(ready)…THE PARENT. I do not say this in a self-satisfied way. I say it with extreme regret, anxiety, and sadness, as I must say goodbye to the minutes and hours of each day so that I can be enrolled in 2nd grade and kindergarten along with my children, and drag them through the accelerated level of homework for which they are quite not developmentally ready.
For years parents and teachers and presidents of, say, the United States have been emphasizing the importance of parental involvement in education. At my child’s school, it is a source of tremendous pride, but for me it seems time-consuming, unnecessary, and a bit embarrassing. While test scores are a decent, though far from perfect indicator of student learning, our obsession with them of late has resulted in the free time of parents being offered up in exchange for flash cards, flash cards, and flash cards. And flash cards. I don’t feel like a parent or even a teacher, but a coach. We “drill and kill” as my child’s kindergarten teacher calls it. My kid cries, I yell, and we repeat the same routine over each day. Next week, I’m getting a whistle, a clipboard, and I will scream in their ears until they vomit. Then, I will wonder why my children prefer Sponge Bob to reading, even though I will have taught them that school is boring, parents are annoying, and that flash cards are the key to the advancement of all things.
Parents, Help Your Daughter Make Sense of Sex
Is this pilot scheme planned for six secondary schools in Oxfordshire, a positive tool in the struggle to tackle unwanted pregnancies, or does it go a little too far? There has been fierce condemnation from various quarters, most rigorously from Parenting groups. Oxfordshire County Council have defended the scheme by saying “Our commitment is to reduce the number of teenage conceptions in Oxfordshire so we’re looking at the most effective ways of doing that.”
The Local Authority added “This will provide an extra level of contact for those young people who think they have taken a risk and don’t want to approach a doctor or a pharmacist”. Naturally Parents are worried knowing that their child may have the option of discussing their sexual practices with someone else and in some cases receive the contraceptive. Reports over the past few years have criticised Parents for not taking responsibility for their Children’s Sex Education, so what can Parents do to connect with their Daughters and discuss this issue openly?
Tutu Skirts – Cultivate Your Daughters Imagination
Nothing is sweeter or more delicate than your little girl and what better way to make her feel special than to dress her up than in a delightful tutu skirt.
If you are like most parents, you probably spend an inordinate amount of time looking for ways to entertain your children. While children are easily amused, they are just as easily bored and need a constant flow of activity to stimulate their imaginations, which we all know is so important in the early years of a child’s development.
Too many children today have lost that sense of imagination that children in years past used to display. Blame it on video games and television taking up so much of their time, but kids today have forgotten how to entertain themselves playing make believe.