Just My Opinion - By Mary Kilen
As Seen On Facebook
A number of my friends have recently shared a post that began with author Jennie Allen back in 2020. It made me stop and hopefully you will do the same. It reads:
“Years ago, one of our kids got in trouble at school, the school emailed us to tell us how serious it was and the possible consequences. Zac immediately emailed back and said, “We fully agree with those consequences and support you. We will discuss further consequences at home.” We heard later that it surprised them, that too often parents are making excuses and trying to get their kids out of trouble, not saying to get them into trouble.
Listen, your kids are little, short, cute sinners. They are. If they get in trouble and pay consequences - praise God! Don’t bail them out. Don’t assume it was someone else’s fault. Let it sting. That is kindness as a parent - better a suspension or bad grades or not making a team than something worse.
Consequences are a gift - don’t shield your kids from that gift. And when you need to be the consequence disher - do it! One day they will thank you for being a parent.”
As I read it, I thought back to what it was like when I was growing up and even when we were raising Amanda.
Getting in trouble at school was the least of your problems. You could only hope they did not feel the need to notify your parents.
I can also remember the one time my parents stood up for me. I was in high school and we had a teacher that came from teaching at the college level and was dealing with us high schoolers.
I attended a Catholic school. This teacher was inevitably sending at least one of us to the office every day. If you have never attended a Catholic school, let me set the scene for you, at least from my school.
The nuns at the school could be terrifying at first glance, until you really got to know them. Our principal and our counselor were actual sisters. Some of our teachers were also nuns or priests.
There was nothing fun about being sent to the principal’s office, except in the case of this teacher. It took me a while to earn my first trip to the office and I really don’t remember what it was that earned it for me. What I clearly remember, though, was walking into the office and having that at times scary counselor look up and say “second period English?” When I said yes, she just shook her head and said have a seat until your next class period.
I can remember telling my parents about it, with both of them also shaking their heads. It was only a few weeks later, when I had a second episode with the same teacher over something stupid. This time, my parents took the initiative to come to the school and stand up for me. It was almost as surprising for me, because like I said, trouble at school was the least of the problems.
As parents it is easy to take your kids’ side, no matter what the issue. As I read the quote, though, I was also reminded that it is not easy to be an educator. Parents need to be parents. They need to help make their children responsible human beings.
We need to be partners with our children’s educators. By working together, we can raise a generation that indeed will make our world a better place.
Kudos To The Road Crews
Tom Schrader may have said it best over the weekend on his Hey Tom Is On Facebook page. I like to check out his page when we have impending weather headed our way.
Sunday morning his post read, in part, “You could have seen this storm coming months ago! All you had to do was look at the calendar and notice there was a basketball tournament this weekend. Fortunately, most families got home before widespread ice formed on the roads.”
He’s not wrong. Tournaments and bad weather seem to go hand in hand in North Dakota. I’ve driven some terrible roads for tournaments including state football, volleyball and basketball.
Sunday was an ugly day as it was not only snowing, but the winds were howling. The snow fell heavily at times and it created whiteout conditions everywhere with the NDDOT road map expanding the red candy cane “no travel advised” conditions.
I saw the first of the Stanley city crews by our house Sunday as they made a first pass at the roads. I woke up about 3 a.m. on Monday and heard the sounds of beeping and equipment making sure that the city streets were passable and ready for the start of the day.
I’ve seen pictures of the highways and talked to friends that were out Monday who said that the roads by late morning and early afternoon were in good winter driving condition.
Kudos to the city, state and county crews that are out there in awful weather while we are safe and warm in our homes making sure that we will be able to get around when we need to. Thanks also to those who go out and clean driveways and sidewalks for also making that possible.