PSoTD

At the end of August our daily trips to The Children's Garden in Shiremanstown will end as our youngest will be entering public elementary school. We've been there over 10 years, and our kids have flourished there. But starting at the end of August, both kids will be getting on the bus half a block from the house, ending my decade-long 4.5 mile, 20 minute round trip which occurred probably an average of 5 times per week (my wife usually picked them up on the way home, but not always, and much of the 10 years the kids went 4 days per week).

So I did some calculations of what that little trip has been:

2600 trips. 11,700 miles. 52,000 minutes - 866 hours. That's over 20 40-hour work weeks. What will I do with these resources over the next 10 years?

It's that time of year. Hey, even bloggers go, and blog about them. It's a community building tradition, and it is one that more neighborhoods ought to adopt. There aren't many places to:

Get the scoop on the neighborhood "news" of your choice.

Go to a big group thing and dress like an around-the-house day.

Have your kids fall in love.

And of course, scarf on a side variety of food. You'll almost always find something you've never had before that you'll want to have again.

So get in line!

Mother's Day falls during the school year, and Father's Day usually does not. This leads to a lot more school projects, and events, for one of the "holidays" and not the other. Of course, both parents could be celebrated in one fell swoop on "Parents Day" if only that day didn't fall on the fourth Sunday of every July. I'm not sure about the timing of that, but it probably would have been wiser to put it in the school year if there was an intent to make it more than calendar filler.

Anyways, it seems to me that it would be useful for schools to put a learning segment into any celebration of any of those days so that kids could discover their parents' heroes, or role models. I'm almost 50 and I could probably piece together a few for both my parents, but I don't remember asking them this question, or getting an answer, and it's too late now. Seems like a worthy educational process for both kids and parents.

For the 06-07 year, today is the last day of school!

On Friday, June 8th, a 6 year tradition ends for me - my one block walk with our son back to the house after our daughter catches the school bus at the bus stop. Schools ends that day, and during the summer there's obviously no schoolbus, and next year, he gets on that bus and I'll do the walk alone.

I'll miss the walk. It's that one-on-one time where whatever emotional palette he's in for that morning comes crystal clear - whether he's goofing around, or joking, or wants to race, or wanting to ask questions about some subject, or is grumping around because of some decision I made. That, and the drive to the preschool, has been our guaranteed morning talk time for six years, but we'll find another guaranteed time now.