The Joy of Babysitting

            "Mrs. L wants you to babysit tonight," Mom said.
My Fry boots squish the leaves that October night.
Friends are playing basketball as I ring the doorbell.
Mark's busting a gusset and wants to show me a card trick.
This red headed eight year old is a live wire.
Cookie crumbs cling to his chin.
"Will you read to me? Pleeeease?" he asks.
He's back so fast I'm out of breath.
"What have you got there?" I ask.
Those impish eyes hold a secret.
Playboy magazine.

Situations for Anger Management students to discuss/act

JOEY

Joey is a 12 year old who has just started grade 7.

After school last week, Joey and his younger brother, Josh, were in their backyard playing with their squirt guns.  They are having a great time until 10 year old Josh squirted Joey in the face – and accidentally hit Joey in the head with his gun. 

Joey is angry and raises his hand…

Josh is scared and runs into the house….

BILLY

Billy is a 14 year old in grade 9.  He has an older brother, Robert, who is 16 and a younger sister, Stephanie, who is 12.

While walking home from school yesterday, Billy hears a bunch of girls laughing.  Rounding the corner, he sees them huddled around something on the sidewalk.  They don’t see him coming and he yells out, “Hey! What are you laughing about?”

The girls run off in different directions and Billy sees Stephanie - sitting, crying, and blood on her lip.

“What the hell?” he asks.

“They hate me.  They say my hair is too short, my nose isn’t right and my eyes are too close together.  I’m ugly!”  She sobs.

Billy thinks to himself as he helps Stephanie up, I’ll get them.  They’re gonna be real sorry. They’ll be ugly…Maybe Robert will help me….

MICHAEL

Michael is 13 and in grade 8.  His parents separated last year and are now going through a divorce.  He and his 6 year old brother, David, live with Mom during the week and with Dad on the weekends. 

At breakfast this morning:

“Hey Mom!  Tommy and Dylan are coming over after supper and we’re gonna play ‘CALL OF DUTY’.  OK?”

“Not tonight, Michael.  You know I’ve got to work late today.  I reminded you yesterday.  You’ve got to watch David and you know the rule about not having friends over when I’m not here.  Why don’t you ask them to come over tomorrow night?”  Mom explains.

“But Mom!  We already made plans.  I don’t care about these rules.  We don’t have these rules at Dad’s.”

“Sorry, Michael, but tomorrow night you could invite them for supper. I’ll pick up pizza.”

Michael glares at his Mom, grabs his backpack and stomps out the door…..

 

Snow Days

As a teacher, I wear many hats:  mentor, mother, psychologist, nurse, doctor, psychiatrist, chauffeur, coach, secretary and confidante….but I didn’t think I was a babysitter.  Yes, it irritates me to no end to think that I have two undergraduate degrees, a master’s degree, and will have a second master’s degree within the next few months – to baby sit?  I think not!

Have you read the 16 page discussion paper on School Storm Days in Nova Scotia?  It was commissioned by the NS Department of Education following the 2008-09 winter where NS School Boards cancelled school for an average of 9 days.  To be fair, I must admit that the Tri-County Board had a low of only 3 days lost to storms whereas the Chignecto-Central Board had a high of 12.  Questions posed by the public apparently warranted this study at God knows what cost to taxpayers.   They (obviously all parents of school aged children) were frustrated by having to make alternate arrangements for their children at 6 in the morning.  They were asking why a board would close schools when the general public would have to report to their jobs.  They also wondered why teachers would get the day off – shouldn’t teachers report to work?  After all, they had to. 

The author, a respected local educator, has certainly done his homework.  He’s interviewed superintendents from local school boards as well as several in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Quebec and Ontario.  There are numerous, well laid out tables with bolded notes – data that even a fifth grader would understand.  (There’s another topic to rant about at another time.)  He looks at data over 3 decades in an effort to legitimize (?) the topic.  Environment Canada was consulted to supply “Normal Average Winter Temperatures” to compare Truro data with that of Sherbrooke, Quebec.  Again, you don’t have to be much smarter than a fifth grader to realize that here in NS; we have a maritime pattern as compared to the steady cold of a more northerly clime.  After all, don’t we all know the local saying: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes and it will change!”   So I guess I’m expected to add weather forecasting and highway maintenance to my list of duties?  Give me a break!

Nova Scotia added 5 days to the school year back in 1971 in order to compensate for lost time due to storm days.  I wonder if the public realize that NS has the longest school year in North America?   US schools have 180 days and the number varies in Canada from a low of 178 to 195 here in NS.  Why wasn’t that mentioned in the paper?  If they expect us to report to school when it’s cancelled for students, then we should expect the school year shortened by those 5 days.

 Our collective agreement with the Dept. of Education lays out what is expected of teachers – they are not expected to report to school on storm days.  OK?  That’s our legal right.  As a mother of two daughters working for the NS Government in downtown Halifax, I’d like to add that they also have had storm days where they were told to “work at home” due to the inclement conditions.  Some of those days, I had to go to school because there were no cancellations for us!  Employers I’ve spoken with understand winter weather conditions and allow their employees leeway on this topic.  I noticed the paper didn’t include information on anyone losing their jobs or other undue hardships suffered because of school cancellations.

Schools stay open in the Durham Region in Ontario when busses are cancelled.  It’s up to the parents to decide whether to send their children.  The paper states that Durham experiences very low attendance for the “first few” storm days followed by increases in attendance as the number of these days increase.  What the heck???  On page 3 of this paper we see, in the easy to read data table, that HRSB’s average number of school closures since 1996 is 2.9 days.  On heck, let’s round that up to a whole number - 3.  I’ve been at school many a day where the busses have been cancelled and our attendance was less than 10%!  If I could get my hands on our board’s attendance records for those days, I think it would be safe to say that most schools found the same thing!  And we never see the students who need the extra help we could give them – oh no.  Their parents let them sleep in!  The few who do attend are the ones who are the academic stars – those who feel they’ll “miss” something if they don’t attend.   Well, well, well…. Our board’s directive is that outcomes are being worked on in EVERY class – therefore, teachers have to give these attendees extra work…that those who are home in bed won’t be responsible for.  Yes sir, we’re babysitting all right!

So, what does the paper recommend?  Among other things, it states that perhaps Boards should pursue talks with all staff on how to best use these storm days.  If school is cancelled, it suggests that principals have readied materials for on-site PD sessions.  That’s fine and dandy, but what if you live far from your school and can’t physically get there?  Should they look at having teachers report to the nearest school?  Or, maybe, they could have us work at home as other private sector and other government agencies have their employees do.  Wouldn’t the students be better off staying home for the day where parents know they are safe?  Wouldn’t teachers be better off staying home and getting that programming planned or assessments accomplished?  Then again, who would provide baby sitting care?

Today's Fools

Don’t you just love the word “nincompoop”?  Early in October I read an interesting article in the Chronicle Herald.  Written for today’s parents, the question posed was, “Are we raising a generation of nincompoops?” 

Every generation says the same thing about its children – they are lazy, no good, disengaged, disinterested and, of course, not very bright.  We say these things about our children just as our parents did about us.  No matter if you are 30, 40, 60 or 80, you know exactly what I’m talking about and are probably nodding your head.

What is a nincompoop anyway?  By definition, it means “fool”.  Were we fools as we grew up?  Were our parents fools when they were growing up?  What about our grandparents?  If we were really fools, how did we lose that status and become “informed” or rational people?  Was it fools who sent a man to the moon or discovered a cure for polio?  And why is it these fools can program my phone but I can’t.

The answer is very simple.  We were taught the things of life that we needed to know from the adults around us – parents, teachers, grandparents.  We absorbed knowledge through books, television, music and our friends.  We learned, as every generation before us, what we had to know to survive in our world.  And today’s children will too – eventually.

The article uses everyday examples to support its claim.  It states that today’s children are able to tell time solely in digital format and depend on Velcro closures to do up their shoes.    I’ll give you a personal example from a typical classroom: 

“What time is it?”

 “Look at the clock on the wall.  What time does it say?”

“I don’t know.  I can’t tell that kind of time.”

And I shake my head.  What I could do is stop whatever lesson I’m trying to teach and use this opportunity to teach time with an analogue clock.  Obviously, they are still used and therefore there is merit in teaching this… But the outcome we’re working on has to be taught and assessed.  No time to deviate from the plan.  So, I tell the time because it’s easier. 

A single mother of two preschoolers has to be organized.  As she tries to rush out the door early in the morning, getting the children ready to go is an act she has fine tuned to a science:

“Matthew, please sit still!”

“Mommy, I want to zip my jacket myself!”

“You’re only 3 years old, sweetie…there’ll be time to learn that later….”

Who’s the nincompoop now?

I am ... (October poem)

·         I am from...

I am from plump pink peonies,
sweet strawberry rhubarb and
red raspberry bushes.
So much life in that backyard - I can
close my eyes and drink in the smells!
Bases familiarto the neighborhood kids
as we chose teams.
We were too young to understand the riches surrounding us.

I'm from the glassed-in front veranda on
Braemar Drive. Solid Kentucky-green rocking chairs
sporting caned seats that lovingly held not only us, but Spats and Toby too.
Sweet comfort through the years - from lullabies and family stories, to
pouting teenage girls, to adult conversations. So much laughter and
learning. When did the changes happen? Built-in safety and security,
known but not acknowledged.

I'm from Pauline and Tim.
Turkey dinners and secret recipes
Steamy kitchen windows in winter -
Sunday roasts with guests.
Brownies slathered in chocolate frosting hidden from us
on 'Bridge' night.

I'm from Winnie Grattan and John Brown, Marty Murphy and
Catherine Dunn. Strong genes I know - Thank God.
Try to live up to them always; they will sustain.

I'm from the cottage at Robichaud Office
Croquet on the front lawn, digging for clams when the tide's out.
Meeting Montreal Canadien greats visiting relatives here - how much better
can this get?
From report card day to Labour Day, we ran through fields, rode bikes,
played games, dove off the wharf, lazed in the sand, played horseshoes
just with Dad.

I'm from Irish stock, the last survivor.
Memories tucked safely away to be unwrapped
when required - like today when life is harried and
the safety net I knew is found anew.