Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Stop the Madness

The kids are back to school.

I know this how?

Today while running an errand for work I passed a public elementary school. It was close to release time as the traffic zone was in effect and I noticed over 40 cars lined up in the parking lot and stretching out onto the highway on the shoulder, allowing breaks for business entrances because little Johnny or Susie is too frigging precious to ride the bus which the county has to supply and pay for regardless of how many kids ride it. It was fine for me when I was growing up, why not now for your spoiled offspring?

How else do I know the kids are back in school?

An hour ago the doorbell rang and the dog went nuts. At the door were 2 elementary-ages girls selling wrapping paper to raise money for whatever it was they needed.

It's the SECOND day of school for the year!!!!!!

Here's an idea. Mom and Dad could pay for your extra-curricular activities if they were not burning gasoline and taking up space sitting around to carry your pampered little butts home after they doubtlessly drove you TO school as well!


10 comments:

Melanie said...

Just an FYI, I understand where you are coming from but there are some reasons parents drive Johnny and Susie to school that you didn't consider. For instance, some school districts do not provide busing to students that live within a certain radius of the school and those parents might not be happy with their child walking to school or riding a bike there - its a different world from when you and I were children. And then there are always the parents who drive their kids to school because the bus times are insane - like my boys bus arrives 1 hour and 20 minutes before school even starts. My special needs son could not ride the bus last year because of his tantrums and sensory issues so I DORVE him and his brother every day. And I am sure there are many many other reasons for each family to make their choices for school transportation. Not all of us do it to pamper our children.

Sparky Duck said...

yea what Melanie said, plus its just the first week, so the kiddies need to feel special. afterwards the bus will be something exciting.

y'all pay for your extra curriculars?

Valtool said...

Well, there is only so much funding for extras like band, clubs, and sports. I remember selling German chocolate-filled advent calendars for German Club, and Krispy Kremes for a band trip. There was a great article on the pay-to-play mentality of booster clubs for sports in high schools last year in USA Today.

As for busing, my first elementary school was in walking distance, we could even walk home for lunch (this was a small steel town in PA).

The rest of my time I was in areas where I had to ride a bus and if I missed it for whatever reason (detention, extra-curriculars) I walked up to 2.5 miles (this was in 6th grade and higher).

I will feel no shame if someone thinks me selfish for my statements in this post, because it is about me being inconvenienced by these soccer moms as I try to make a living which will be taxed to pay for their precious ones' government education.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Spoken like a man who has no children. Get creative. Find a different route for your work errands or something. Or take a deep breath and count to 10. Or maybe 20 it seems. Well - at least you admit your selfish - because that is definitely how your post reads.

But why be so callous in your remarks?

Valtool said...

Thanks for reminding me that I need to set my account to disallow any anonymous posts. What cowardice.

If the district did not place schools on major thoroughfares it would not be such an issue.

Regarding being "callous," you'll love that I expect people to take responsibility for their actions and decisions in life.

When I see the mother on TV as she's smoking a cigarette and complaining about her health care or daycare or other financial woes as she tries to raise 5 kids fathered by 4 different men, my thoughts are not about what a poor lady and how she needs help. They are instead that if she hadn't been having sex. or if she had had sex responsibly, she would not be in her current situation.

Unknown said...

oh mr Anon, there are many parents who will the same way as Michael. Perhaps he could have worded it better, but I agree that a lot of kids are spoiled. Not so much spoiled, but they (the kids I know, not every child) get things they want a lot easier than they did years ago. Michael and I have a lot to learn about parenting, but I can assure you we have family and friends to support us. We have wonderful mentors and cant wait to be parents to LynnMarie. She will not be wearing words on her behind (I fully agree that no one should wear clothing that brings attention to that area) or sailor outfits with hats (we saw one at Gymborree and Michael said NO WAY, HAHA)!

I am thankful that Mr or Mrs Anon took the time to share things. Perhaps if you had written your name you could have more of an influence on us, but no, you could not do that. We will have to rely on others.

Ok I am done!

Unknown said...

i only used the anonymous option because it required less work/typing/keystrokes (yes, I'll admit I am lazy online).

I was not trying to stir anything up - only commenting on the author's own comment about being selfish and saying it sounded like the remarks of someone who does not yet have children.

I apologize for upsetting those that i did - however - posting such a one sided sarcastically written message is surely designed to solicit a response of some type - no?

Unknown said...

Beth,
You are correct that posts like this will bring lots of comments..I appreciate your last one..Thanks for taking the time to post. I think I (Michaels wife) took your post the wrong way the first time and I am sorry about that

Jen & Bill said...

We live in metro Atlanta as well. If my child who is 7 would take a bus, she would have to take the bus and ride it for 2 hours as it picks up all the children for several schools in the area. This means she would have to be picked at 6:15 am when her school doesn't start till 8:30 am. I'm not a soccer mom who wants to inconvience you- just a mom who doesn't want her child on a bus for 2 hours. I'm sure when you get LynnMarie -- you don't want her on bus for over 2 hours.

Your comment on "she tries to raise 5 kids fathered by 4 different men, my thoughts are not about what a poor lady and how she needs help. They are instead that if she hadn't been having sex. or if she had had sex responsibly, she would not be in her current situation" - is pretty sexist and one sided - what about the man who takes no responsiblity for his responsibility.

retrodaddy said...

Wow, you're pretty curmudgeonly for someone 36 years young. At least the part about parents waiting to pick up their kids. Like others have mentioned, schools don't allow for bus pick-up of kids within a certain distance of school. This was the case for me until I got to high school. Granted, I walked to elem. & middle school, but esp. given a first week of school I can see lotsa parents dropping & picking up the kiddies. Also, as mentioned by others, some bus routes require kids to be ready 2 hours in advance of school starting time. That's the suxxors.