With less than two weeks to go before school starts, the Jackson household is a flurry of activity and adjustment.
Thanks to two of the three kids starting new grades and one even beginning at a new school, enforcing earlier bedtimes and shopping for new school supplies seems to be the easiest part of the process as Calvin and I gear up for months of anxiety and change ahead.
Darius, the oldest, is now a freshman in high school. His long and lanky frame towers over mine by nearly a foot and puberty is in full effect, but his still-smooth face and occasional moments of uncertainty about school and social situations remind me that he still needs our boundaries and support.
While he contemplates his involvement with the campus theater group and step team, we’ve helped him select classes that will make the most of his interests and enhance transcripts at the same time.
Because the normal pitfalls of high school are now amplified by social media — bullying, school cliques and possible experimentation with sex, drugs or alcohol — we emphasize the difference between short-term pleasure and long-term pain and how the consequences can echo beyond his teen years.
There will probably be missteps along the way, but Darius is a young man with a hunger to learn, a clear grasp of right and wrong and an unwavering sense of purpose. These traits should keep him on track — or return him to it — as he moves beyond graduation into independence and employment.
Last year was filled with major adjustments for Nia as she acclimated to an all-day classroom, daily homework assignments and accountability to computer exercises and reading logs.
School is still more social for her than anything, but we stress the importance of multiple tries and doing the required work on her own instead of depending on Mom and Dad or big bro to help find the answers.
In addition to her scholastic lessons, Nia is also learning about taking responsibility for her assignments.
Storing them in the same place each day allows Mom and Dad to fill out field trip forms and have occasional lunch dates with her instead of attending parent/teacher conferences to pick up make-up work for what she misplaced.
As the parent who works from home, I provide the transportation and attend most of the meetings and conferences. But as I fill that role, I can’t help comparing and contrasting my past and their present realities as students.
The carefree walks to and from school with just a backpack, notebook and supply box are long gone: When I was in school, computers and mobile phones were for wealthy ballers and shot-callers, but today, all three of our kids have come of age using those technologies.
Critical thinking for its own sake is now eschewed for hours of test prep, and the study materials that were practically set in stone for my generation have since been revised with attempts to create a nicer-sounding past.
Metal detectors, on-campus police patrols and mandates of “photo ID at all times” as we pick up our kids are expected now, but they’re also tangible reminders of a simpler era that they’re unable to relate to and unfortunately, will never know.
The environment that today’s kids are in moves with the immediacy of real-time trends and news events: Nia and Darius may be the ones in classrooms, but that doesn’t mean Calvin and I aren’t learning new lessons as well.
1 Comment
*This post tells it like it is. I remember when I was in elementary school,we paid $1.00 and that covered all our supplies for that semester. I remember the big laddy pencils and lined paper. Where have those days gone?
August 29, 2012 at 7:53 pm