The Universe, Starring Mr. Miagi

Hi all!

It seems that God, the universe, or whatever you want to call it, is doing that thing again- that thing where I take a stance on something and let the world know about it, and then I spend the very next week being bombarded by a cosmic hailstorm of situations and examples in which my new stance is tested. Frankly, if the Universe, God, or whatever could just manifest itself into a human form, I'd like to take it out for coffee and be all, "Hey man. Listen. I am over this little 'keep Tacy on her toes' trick that you like to play. Would it kill you to just let me have something figured out for once?"

And then the Universe would throw back it's head and laugh this big hearty laugh and it'd say something new age-y like, "Oh, patience little grasshopper. I'm just trying to show you that the cup of knowledge never stops flowing."

Or some crap like that.

Cause in my imagination The Universe totally looks like Mr. Miagi.

(What? I grew up in the '80's okay? Mr. Miagi is bomb.)

You know he is.

Anyway. Ever since I posted my Big Fat Soapbox post, I have been tested, tested, tested with situations from my children's teachers that have made me question if I didn't just feed my faithful readers (every single beautiful one of yous who I love and appreciate so much for reading my ramblings) a load of BS.

Should we stand united with teachers all the time, even when they hold out on rewarding your child with being a star student, even though your child has returned all homework, been on time, kept his/her name off the board, and been in uniform every day? And you have a sneaky feeling that it's because she/he is wearing TwinkleToe Sketchers, which do follow the dress code of the school, but your child's teacher, a self-proclaimed uniform Nazi and maker of her own personal dress code expectations probably doesn't like and is therefore waiting for your child to show up in Oxfords before she gives her star student honors? Should we?

That's a hypothetical situation.

Or how about the teacher who requires that parents purchase a $60 out-of-print textbook that she/he decided she wants to use for curriculum, even though you know, as a teacher, that technically that's illegal? This is not mentioning that she wanted the book by the 2nd week of school and there's 6-8 week shipping on it?

That's another hypothetical situation, by the way.

I've been arguing against myself in my head all week long, bouncing like a tennis ball at a Wimbledon Match: Parent camp!  Teacher camp!  Parent camp!  Teacher camp!

Then I remembered that my main point in the Soapbox post wasn't that we should chose sides, it was that we should work together as a team. So, I guess I have to say that I'm still standing united- just not as enthusiastically as before. I'll probably go buy PG- er, I mean, a certain hypothetical child a hypothetical pair of white Keds from Payless so she can get her dang hypothetical award.

Hypothetically, I'll feel a little bullied about it, but you know, the pedestal and everything.

Rah, rah pedastools.

Also, this has made me realize that I want to write a little weekly meme (pronounced meem- not me-me, as I first thought) that would include tips that I learned as a teacher and would be helpful for us parents to know. Things like decoding the teacher remark section of the report cards, or tips on how to help your child pick a book that is at the right reading level for her. Things like that.

Only, I need help thinking of a name for it. I initially wanted to go with some kind of Double Agent theme- you know, since I'm kind of like an educator who's on the inside of the parent world and a parent on the inside of the educator world? Like GoldFinger/GoldApple kind of thing?

I actually just ran that one by Mr. C and it got a big thumbs down. So never mind.

Any ideas you guys have would be greatly appreciated. Leave me a comment.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

(Another great 80's reference. I'm on fire tonight.)

You all have a totally awesome night!