Friday, April 06, 2007
Speaking of googling yourself
I never use my real name on this blog, so I can "keep it real," well really as not to have anyone read this whose feelings might be hurt, and then have to deal with the consequences. So after my last posting I figured I'd google myself and sure enough of the eight blogs I have, Dissonant Dad pops up as the first one! It of course being the only one where I want to keep my name secret, oh fucking great, hi mom!
Grandma, Daddy said you're inept
SO, my son goes to pre-school with the child of a certain recently and publicly disgraced x-politician, which in my state could be any number of people, but just to not cause that family any more grief, in case they google themselves I won't be using their real names. Anyway my mother sees a Valentine's day card rather poorly and haphazardly draw by the progeny of said politician and in front of my son says, "That poor Fake Kid's Name, they sure do have problems," and as if this were some Meet the Focker's-esque family comedy my son blurts out, "Fake Kid's Name really has problems!?! What grandma, Fake Kid's Name has problems?!?"
Panic mode ensues and we come up with some cover lie that he buys and stops repeatedly saying, "Fake Kid's Name really has problems!?!" It was like he was really curious about what problems Fake Kid's Name had.
Now the kids not only pass information on to their parents, unfortunately it's a two way street and your kids will rat you out to your parents, or misconstrue something you say and pass that along to the grand parents and get you in deep shit.
This has happened to me twice, but at this time I can only remember the details of the last time it happened.
My son collects comic books, which I store for him some where that his little brother can get at, and where he has to ask me to get them out, so I can keep track of them while he's using them. I managed to keep all of my childhood comics to pass on to him, and with a little luck I'll be able to keep them in good condition until he's old enough to take care of them on his own, and who knows maybe pass them on to his first born.
So he's going away to maternal grandmother's for the weekend, and the week before every day, several times a day he's asking me if he can bring the comics to grandma's house, so at first I'm like no you can't, that's not a good enough answer, "Why?" "Well because Grandma's going to be very busy watching you two boys, and you guys will have toys spread out all over the house and it will be too hard for her to keep track of the comics, and to make sure you little brother doesn't tear them or draw on them."
Now by the 20th time that answer starts to be, "I'll tell you why, Grandma can't chase after you boys all weekend to protect your comics from your brother," 40th time, "Grandma's not so good at keeping track of stuff," 6 millionth time, "LOOK GRANDMA'S NOT SO GOOD AT TAKING CARE OF STUFF, ALRIGHT I DON'T WANT YOUR COMICS DESTROYED!"
Ring, Ring, "Grandma, Daddy said I can't bring the comics because you're no good at taking care of stuff!" Just fucking great, how do you explain this one away, basically not worth the bother, and frankly she's not good at keeping track of things and taking care of stuff, but I tried hard and long to keep my real opinion under wraps, but that little punk broke me like a first timer in central booking.
Panic mode ensues and we come up with some cover lie that he buys and stops repeatedly saying, "Fake Kid's Name really has problems!?!" It was like he was really curious about what problems Fake Kid's Name had.
Now the kids not only pass information on to their parents, unfortunately it's a two way street and your kids will rat you out to your parents, or misconstrue something you say and pass that along to the grand parents and get you in deep shit.
This has happened to me twice, but at this time I can only remember the details of the last time it happened.
My son collects comic books, which I store for him some where that his little brother can get at, and where he has to ask me to get them out, so I can keep track of them while he's using them. I managed to keep all of my childhood comics to pass on to him, and with a little luck I'll be able to keep them in good condition until he's old enough to take care of them on his own, and who knows maybe pass them on to his first born.
So he's going away to maternal grandmother's for the weekend, and the week before every day, several times a day he's asking me if he can bring the comics to grandma's house, so at first I'm like no you can't, that's not a good enough answer, "Why?" "Well because Grandma's going to be very busy watching you two boys, and you guys will have toys spread out all over the house and it will be too hard for her to keep track of the comics, and to make sure you little brother doesn't tear them or draw on them."
Now by the 20th time that answer starts to be, "I'll tell you why, Grandma can't chase after you boys all weekend to protect your comics from your brother," 40th time, "Grandma's not so good at keeping track of stuff," 6 millionth time, "LOOK GRANDMA'S NOT SO GOOD AT TAKING CARE OF STUFF, ALRIGHT I DON'T WANT YOUR COMICS DESTROYED!"
Ring, Ring, "Grandma, Daddy said I can't bring the comics because you're no good at taking care of stuff!" Just fucking great, how do you explain this one away, basically not worth the bother, and frankly she's not good at keeping track of things and taking care of stuff, but I tried hard and long to keep my real opinion under wraps, but that little punk broke me like a first timer in central booking.
random thoughts from the past year: Punk lyrics & BHT
A couple of times a year I check my palm pilot for ideas that I had wanted to expound on in this blog but never got around to, so in order in particular:
* 10/27/2006. Helping my 4 year-old make 77 punk mix, his first mix CD, using the Damned, the Sex Pistols, the Clash's first albums, I was looking up lyrics online to cut out any songs with curse words. I still play plenty of music that has foul language around him, but I don't think his first CD mix should be chock full of "fucks and shits," besides the only time I've heard either one of my boys curse was shortly after I did, (what did you say, duck? right you said duck).
The pressing question is what about Antichrist and whore? I don't feel like explaining these, though I doubt they would pick these words out of a fast punk song anyway.
TODAY'S COMMENT: Can't remember if we used the song with whore? My two year old has taken to saying stupid, which no one in my house says, so I guess he got that from TV, the say stupid in Charlie Brown / Peanuts a lot. It's fun when we're out and he says,"I'm not stupid!" Another fun one is my wife made the mistake of giving him coffee once, and we are at an open house for picking grammar schools for his older brother, he starts to act up my wife tries to calm him down and while the Principal is giving her speech, he yells, "I want coffee!" *
----
General Mills started making most of their cereals with 100% whole grains, so I mistakenly thought cool I don't always have to spend five bucks at the healthfood store for cereal, so I let my son pick some Dora the Explorer cereal. We get it home and I notice BHT is listed in the ingredients, at first i think its in the packaging, but a closer look reveals that it's in the cereal. I didn't know that it was legal to put BHT in food, I thought they stopped that when I was a kid.
The next time I'm at the supermarket I start to check out some of General Mills "healthier" lines of cereal, and most have BHT.
I noticed a number of years ago when I first started to eat healthier, that a company will promote one healthy aspect of a food, like low fat, less sugar, no preservatives, but it will still have a number of other unhealthy ingredients like corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, etc. and no sugar usually means so sort of synthetic sweetener, sorry I'd rather have fat kids then predispose them for cancer.
So basically don't let yourself be tricked no matter how distracting your kids are in the supermarket.
* 10/27/2006. Helping my 4 year-old make 77 punk mix, his first mix CD, using the Damned, the Sex Pistols, the Clash's first albums, I was looking up lyrics online to cut out any songs with curse words. I still play plenty of music that has foul language around him, but I don't think his first CD mix should be chock full of "fucks and shits," besides the only time I've heard either one of my boys curse was shortly after I did, (what did you say, duck? right you said duck).
The pressing question is what about Antichrist and whore? I don't feel like explaining these, though I doubt they would pick these words out of a fast punk song anyway.
TODAY'S COMMENT: Can't remember if we used the song with whore? My two year old has taken to saying stupid, which no one in my house says, so I guess he got that from TV, the say stupid in Charlie Brown / Peanuts a lot. It's fun when we're out and he says,"I'm not stupid!" Another fun one is my wife made the mistake of giving him coffee once, and we are at an open house for picking grammar schools for his older brother, he starts to act up my wife tries to calm him down and while the Principal is giving her speech, he yells, "I want coffee!" *
----
General Mills started making most of their cereals with 100% whole grains, so I mistakenly thought cool I don't always have to spend five bucks at the healthfood store for cereal, so I let my son pick some Dora the Explorer cereal. We get it home and I notice BHT is listed in the ingredients, at first i think its in the packaging, but a closer look reveals that it's in the cereal. I didn't know that it was legal to put BHT in food, I thought they stopped that when I was a kid.
The next time I'm at the supermarket I start to check out some of General Mills "healthier" lines of cereal, and most have BHT.
I noticed a number of years ago when I first started to eat healthier, that a company will promote one healthy aspect of a food, like low fat, less sugar, no preservatives, but it will still have a number of other unhealthy ingredients like corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, etc. and no sugar usually means so sort of synthetic sweetener, sorry I'd rather have fat kids then predispose them for cancer.
So basically don't let yourself be tricked no matter how distracting your kids are in the supermarket.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
REBEL DAD LINK
Rebel Dad is great at home dad blog that I read about in the paper, not only is it a cool and informative blog, but it's got a ton of links to other stay-at-home-dad blogs. He was kind enough to link to Dissonant Dad, so big ups, mad props and good vibes sent in Rebel Dad's direction.
This reminds me I have to add a links section to my sidebar.
peace out
This reminds me I have to add a links section to my sidebar.
peace out
Experts denounce kids' cold elixirs
Some cause serious harm, they say
Sunday, March 18, 2007
BY ROBERT COHENSTAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Many of the country's leading pediatricians and medical experts have reached the conclusion that the most widely used cough and cold remedies for children do not work as advertised, and can cause a range of side effects including infant deaths from unintentional overdoses.
As a result, a number of prominent doctors and medical groups now oppose the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children, unless recommended by a doctor.
And not just for young children: Last year, the American College of Chest Physicians issued guidelines that recommend against the use of such products for anyone under 14, finding they are "not useful ... and can actually be harmful."
Richard Irwin, a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts and chairman of an expert panel that issued the guidelines, said a scientific review of all available clinical data "found no high-quality studies" supporting the effectiveness or safety of children's cough and cold medications.
"Why use a drug not shown to work that can possibly hurt someone and maybe kill him?" said Irwin. "A common cold is a self-limited illness. We should not be using this with kids, especially young kids."
Despite growing concerns in the medical profession, OTC cough and cold remedies are heavily marketed for children and widely available at supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores. They include such popular brands as Triaminic, Dimetapp, Robitussin, NyQuil, Pedia Care, Little Colds and Delsym. Products advertised for use by toddlers and young children usually come in liquid form or chewable tablets.
Click here for the full article.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
BY ROBERT COHENSTAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Many of the country's leading pediatricians and medical experts have reached the conclusion that the most widely used cough and cold remedies for children do not work as advertised, and can cause a range of side effects including infant deaths from unintentional overdoses.
As a result, a number of prominent doctors and medical groups now oppose the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children, unless recommended by a doctor.
And not just for young children: Last year, the American College of Chest Physicians issued guidelines that recommend against the use of such products for anyone under 14, finding they are "not useful ... and can actually be harmful."
Richard Irwin, a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts and chairman of an expert panel that issued the guidelines, said a scientific review of all available clinical data "found no high-quality studies" supporting the effectiveness or safety of children's cough and cold medications.
"Why use a drug not shown to work that can possibly hurt someone and maybe kill him?" said Irwin. "A common cold is a self-limited illness. We should not be using this with kids, especially young kids."
Despite growing concerns in the medical profession, OTC cough and cold remedies are heavily marketed for children and widely available at supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores. They include such popular brands as Triaminic, Dimetapp, Robitussin, NyQuil, Pedia Care, Little Colds and Delsym. Products advertised for use by toddlers and young children usually come in liquid form or chewable tablets.
Click here for the full article.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Oedipus & Civil Unions
A few months back my Pre-K son and I were joking around, at the time he was always talking about "marrying Mommy," oh Oedipus can you hear me, I guess some of Freud's cocaine fueled stabs in the dark actually hit the mark, it's funny reading about something Freshman year in college and actually seeing it happen in the flesh, anyway he knows that he gets my goat by saying he's married to Mommy, and we get into a "No, I'm married to Mommy," "No I'm married to Mommy," fight.
So I thought I'd throw him a curve ball and say, "Well I'm married to Matteo(my toddler son)," to which he responded, "A boy can't marry another boy!"
Arghhhh, well no they can't in most places, but there are civil unions, what if he says that in pre-school in front of the teachers, or worse in front of the kids with gay parents, they'll all think we're homophobic, filling our son full of hate, we're not homophobic, we lived in San Francisco for seven years and the old "some of our best friends in college were gay," but he saved my melt down by saying, "Well I guess if they can't find a nice girl they'd like to marry it's okay for a boy to marry another boy."
YES, he shoots, he scores! We conveyed our open-minded belief system without having to beat him over the head with barely age appropriate conversations.
So I thought I'd throw him a curve ball and say, "Well I'm married to Matteo(my toddler son)," to which he responded, "A boy can't marry another boy!"
Arghhhh, well no they can't in most places, but there are civil unions, what if he says that in pre-school in front of the teachers, or worse in front of the kids with gay parents, they'll all think we're homophobic, filling our son full of hate, we're not homophobic, we lived in San Francisco for seven years and the old "some of our best friends in college were gay," but he saved my melt down by saying, "Well I guess if they can't find a nice girl they'd like to marry it's okay for a boy to marry another boy."
YES, he shoots, he scores! We conveyed our open-minded belief system without having to beat him over the head with barely age appropriate conversations.
I'm not one for sensationalism, but the fact that these boys are the same age as mine kind of freaked me out. I love the mother's excuse, "I was sleeping in the back room," like it's a situation that could happen to any responsible parent.
Video appears to show brothers, 2 and 5, smoking pot
You know how people always say, "You have to take a test to get a driver's license, you should have to take a test to have kids," well I think they should legalize non-physiologically addictive drugs but make people go through psychological testing to see if they are stable enough to handle them. I'm tired of teenagers and idiots serving as examples of why, "all drugs are bad," I know so many people that used recreational drugs responsibly (i.e. once they got serious responsibilities in their lives like kids & mortgages they either quit or drastically decreased their use), it's annoying that much of the public can't decipher the distinctions between, using, abusing and being addicted to drugs.
Video appears to show brothers, 2 and 5, smoking pot
You know how people always say, "You have to take a test to get a driver's license, you should have to take a test to have kids," well I think they should legalize non-physiologically addictive drugs but make people go through psychological testing to see if they are stable enough to handle them. I'm tired of teenagers and idiots serving as examples of why, "all drugs are bad," I know so many people that used recreational drugs responsibly (i.e. once they got serious responsibilities in their lives like kids & mortgages they either quit or drastically decreased their use), it's annoying that much of the public can't decipher the distinctions between, using, abusing and being addicted to drugs.
Master of his domain
I've read about fetuses masturbating in utero, and I wouldn't be surprised if my two year old son started before he was born, it's like his hands are magnets and his penis is made of metal. Every time I change his diaper he's fondling himself. Sometimes when I'm changing his diaper and cleaning his business, he gets an erection and looks a little too happy. I've noticed that sometimes if he's freaking out and fighting me because he doesn't want his diaper changed he'll totally chill out after gaining access to himself. In the tub the other day a killer whale rubber bath toy with an open mouth was being put to use in a way I never would have dreamed, and after that now all toys with orifices are open game, as it were, is that a pun or am I just tired, all I know is that we're going to need more than one upstairs bathroom by time puberty hits.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
LABELS
I'm trying to make use of the "Labels" attached to each entry, I've gone back over the past 10 months or so, and will try to have every entry labeled over the next few weeks, any way here's the key:
whining = posts that primarily deal with my mental and emotional state
complaining = posts that deal with actual things that happened, outside situations (schools, taxes, the guys who shovel out the snow came late) not just me mentally tripping out on something
knowitall = posts that are informational like links, or where I get up on a soapbox and speak as if you could actually benefit from my vast pool of knowledge
the things they do = growth benchmarks, cute, funny and/or gross things my children do
whining = posts that primarily deal with my mental and emotional state
complaining = posts that deal with actual things that happened, outside situations (schools, taxes, the guys who shovel out the snow came late) not just me mentally tripping out on something
knowitall = posts that are informational like links, or where I get up on a soapbox and speak as if you could actually benefit from my vast pool of knowledge
the things they do = growth benchmarks, cute, funny and/or gross things my children do
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I suck
Man, I hate when you read something or come across something that makes you realize, "Man I really fucking suck."
I was just reading the Paper and there were two articles in particular that brought this home for me, one about a poet who lives in my town that just published a book about leaving the city to raise a family in Montclair, and another article about parenting blogs.
Why would these things make me realize I really fucking suck, well because they made me re-realize what a quitter I am, I use to constantly write poetry, but rather than working at my craft to get better, at some point in college I decided, ah fuck poetry, the only people interested in my poetry are women who want to sleep with me, being in a band is a better way to reach people with my ideas and feelings.
Now of course I didn't stop writing poetry & prose I just never worked at it any more, the first draft was now the only draft and I stopped showing it to people, it's not even like I got any devastatingly bad feed back, I just gave up the ghost.
As you obviously know by the fact that you are reading this I right a stay-at-home-dad blog,
and I've been doing it for a number of years, though I have ideas for it almost daily I have to force myself to post once a month, it's a lot like my ideas for bands, I'd come up with a concept, write four or five songs, demo two of them and be like, "ah no one wants to hear stripped down trashy blues punk, why bother continuing with this project?" Then two years later the White Stripes start making waves doing that exact same thing, and few years after that go on to fame and fortune. Now I'm not under the misguided notion that I have nearly as much talent as Jack White, but a band breaking big doing what I wanted to do just shows that there was interest in the world out there for it. And again, my band got some good reviews, but a combination of me being lame, and having an inability to focus on one artistic endeavor at a time ends up with me being an artistic jack of all trades, master of none.
So basically if I had three blogs instead of seven I might have written more entries for this blog, and hence might have been noticed by the author of the article in the paper, and had my blog listed in the article which would have lead to my blog getting more hits, and that some how would make me feel what? More valid as a blogger, a person, a parent, or what, why do I even care? I'm often confused where my healthy Buddhist/Taoist not giving a fuck about the trappings of life intersects with my unhealthy fear of failure, and what role my socialist desire to not deem myself a commodity and therefore not participate in capitalist society plays in it all.
Product is the Excrement of Action
I was just reading the Paper and there were two articles in particular that brought this home for me, one about a poet who lives in my town that just published a book about leaving the city to raise a family in Montclair, and another article about parenting blogs.
Why would these things make me realize I really fucking suck, well because they made me re-realize what a quitter I am, I use to constantly write poetry, but rather than working at my craft to get better, at some point in college I decided, ah fuck poetry, the only people interested in my poetry are women who want to sleep with me, being in a band is a better way to reach people with my ideas and feelings.
Now of course I didn't stop writing poetry & prose I just never worked at it any more, the first draft was now the only draft and I stopped showing it to people, it's not even like I got any devastatingly bad feed back, I just gave up the ghost.
As you obviously know by the fact that you are reading this I right a stay-at-home-dad blog,
and I've been doing it for a number of years, though I have ideas for it almost daily I have to force myself to post once a month, it's a lot like my ideas for bands, I'd come up with a concept, write four or five songs, demo two of them and be like, "ah no one wants to hear stripped down trashy blues punk, why bother continuing with this project?" Then two years later the White Stripes start making waves doing that exact same thing, and few years after that go on to fame and fortune. Now I'm not under the misguided notion that I have nearly as much talent as Jack White, but a band breaking big doing what I wanted to do just shows that there was interest in the world out there for it. And again, my band got some good reviews, but a combination of me being lame, and having an inability to focus on one artistic endeavor at a time ends up with me being an artistic jack of all trades, master of none.
So basically if I had three blogs instead of seven I might have written more entries for this blog, and hence might have been noticed by the author of the article in the paper, and had my blog listed in the article which would have lead to my blog getting more hits, and that some how would make me feel what? More valid as a blogger, a person, a parent, or what, why do I even care? I'm often confused where my healthy Buddhist/Taoist not giving a fuck about the trappings of life intersects with my unhealthy fear of failure, and what role my socialist desire to not deem myself a commodity and therefore not participate in capitalist society plays in it all.
Product is the Excrement of Action
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
since i haven't posted in forever here's an excerpt from one of my babbling emails ...
"... I know about the old, boring, uninteresting, uncreative, crappy career angle, it's why people have midlife crisises and why otherwise unsleazy men cheat all the time, (that is if there are any unsleazy men).
Society has been set up to bore us to death, we have to try to keep challenging ourselves, I know on the one hand, my kids keep part of me on my toes, but they help to kill another part of me, a similar part that is killed by straight jobs, marriage, taxes, worrying about retirement, fear of death, etc., the freak, not just the inner child but the actualized and free adult that many of us were on the verge of attaining before our decadently extended adolescence forcibly came to it's end either by love, procreation, or being sick of sharing crappy apartments with strangers and not having enough money to go on vacation without running up credit card debt ... right now at best I can keep in touch with this person who I had planned to become by being a weekend psychic warrior, basically exposing myself to people on the street, no I meant to say exposing myself to either challenging or spiritually uplifting art (like Forest Gump and that wonderful artist that paints those quaint scenes of overly decorated snow covered houses, tchk-chk-BOOM, wall full of brains), basically anything to get you outside of yourself and your grind that will still allow you to get back into it in a timely manner, so no work is missed or bills paid late, with the hope that these respites will allow you to keep that part of you alive that you wish to flourish at some point in the future no matter how unforeseeable that future is. Obviously exercise, yoga, taichi and mediation are all probably more effective ways of doing the same thing.
This reminds me of something I read about some point in the distant past in some region of India where such high numbers of young men were devoting themselves to spiritual studies that it was hurting the economy. This prompted "them" I guess them that come up with the grand ideas that society is based on to decide that men should spend their first 20 years devoted to learning, both the secular and spiritual, their next 20 years devoted to operating in the secular and physical world, ie. making money and making a babies, and the next 20, which at that time for most I'm sure meant the rest of their lives, living as a spiritual being, be it a wandering aesthetic, a monk, etc.
and basically now that applies to both men and women, and we are all in the suck it up and deal with it stage of our lives, and we haven't had the proper spiritual training to get through this stage, we just have to find a way to keep one foot out of the rut so we can keep it on the proverbial Path."
"... I know about the old, boring, uninteresting, uncreative, crappy career angle, it's why people have midlife crisises and why otherwise unsleazy men cheat all the time, (that is if there are any unsleazy men).
Society has been set up to bore us to death, we have to try to keep challenging ourselves, I know on the one hand, my kids keep part of me on my toes, but they help to kill another part of me, a similar part that is killed by straight jobs, marriage, taxes, worrying about retirement, fear of death, etc., the freak, not just the inner child but the actualized and free adult that many of us were on the verge of attaining before our decadently extended adolescence forcibly came to it's end either by love, procreation, or being sick of sharing crappy apartments with strangers and not having enough money to go on vacation without running up credit card debt ... right now at best I can keep in touch with this person who I had planned to become by being a weekend psychic warrior, basically exposing myself to people on the street, no I meant to say exposing myself to either challenging or spiritually uplifting art (like Forest Gump and that wonderful artist that paints those quaint scenes of overly decorated snow covered houses, tchk-chk-BOOM, wall full of brains), basically anything to get you outside of yourself and your grind that will still allow you to get back into it in a timely manner, so no work is missed or bills paid late, with the hope that these respites will allow you to keep that part of you alive that you wish to flourish at some point in the future no matter how unforeseeable that future is. Obviously exercise, yoga, taichi and mediation are all probably more effective ways of doing the same thing.
This reminds me of something I read about some point in the distant past in some region of India where such high numbers of young men were devoting themselves to spiritual studies that it was hurting the economy. This prompted "them" I guess them that come up with the grand ideas that society is based on to decide that men should spend their first 20 years devoted to learning, both the secular and spiritual, their next 20 years devoted to operating in the secular and physical world, ie. making money and making a babies, and the next 20, which at that time for most I'm sure meant the rest of their lives, living as a spiritual being, be it a wandering aesthetic, a monk, etc.
and basically now that applies to both men and women, and we are all in the suck it up and deal with it stage of our lives, and we haven't had the proper spiritual training to get through this stage, we just have to find a way to keep one foot out of the rut so we can keep it on the proverbial Path."
Monday, December 11, 2006
My 4 1/2 year-old's favorite things
Sports Teams:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston Oilers
NJ Devils
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights
NJ Nets
Music -
:Bands:
Arctic Monkeys
the Damned
the Clash
Monster Magnet
Mudhoney
Stereolab
:Genres:
Rock (punk, stoner, classic)
Drum and Bass (which he calls "crazy music")
Jazz
Foods:
Mac & Cheese
Pizza
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Tacos
Tater Tots
Friends:
Taj
Hollen
Beck
Ethan
Colman
Mallory
Sports:
Football
Basketball
Soccer
TV Shows:
Curious George
Peanuts / Charlie Brown
SpongeBob Square Pants
Wonder Pets
Backyardigans
Colors:
Blue
Pink
Green
Superheroes:
Spiderman
The Flash
Power Rangers
Zorro
Superman
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston Oilers
NJ Devils
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights
NJ Nets
Music -
:Bands:
Arctic Monkeys
the Damned
the Clash
Monster Magnet
Mudhoney
Stereolab
:Genres:
Rock (punk, stoner, classic)
Drum and Bass (which he calls "crazy music")
Jazz
Foods:
Mac & Cheese
Pizza
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Tacos
Tater Tots
Friends:
Taj
Hollen
Beck
Ethan
Colman
Mallory
Sports:
Football
Basketball
Soccer
TV Shows:
Curious George
Peanuts / Charlie Brown
SpongeBob Square Pants
Wonder Pets
Backyardigans
Colors:
Blue
Pink
Green
Superheroes:
Spiderman
The Flash
Power Rangers
Zorro
Superman
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Kindergarten applications?
My oldest son will be going to kindergarten next year, and in our town we have a magnet school system so WE HAVE TO APPLY TO SEND OUR SON TO KINDERGARTEN!!! Seems a bit much to me. There are six schools to pick from all with different specialties or slants on education (one is next to the local University and uses the Univ. resources, college students as teaching assistants, and has courses designed by Univ. professors, another is a Montessari school, a gifted and talented school, a school of global studies, another is focusing on family and environmental studies, and lastly a science and technology school).
One of my many problems with this set up is how can we judge our 4 year olds learning style after one semester of full time preschool? Ever try asking a preschooler what their favorite things about school are, "Besides playtime, yes not including imagination station, your favorite things besides playing, no mac n' cheese is your favorite food not a subject at school ..."
My main concern in choosing a school is at this young age do I pick what he likes, what I like, what will prepare him for the world or what will prepare him for 6th grade? Some schools seem to have a non-competitive vibe "cooperation and collaboration, not competition, are emphasized," which is really great, but will that be preparing him to be crushed in an extremely competitive capitalist society, plus he'll be getting enough commie indoctrination at home, just like he'll be exposed to the arts at home, should he be going to the science and technology school?
It comes down to this, should we be choosing a school that reinforces our values and interests of being open minded, creative and socially conscious, or one that teaches him things that he won't be getting at home? I don't have a fucking clue ...
We're just coming out of two weeks of 104.5 fevers and missing Thanksgiving at all three grandparents homes, no more than three hours of straight sleep due to being awoken because of our congestion, runny noses and sore throats, and in the 22 month old's case, being miserable and not having the vocabulary to express how shitty you feel.
One of my many problems with this set up is how can we judge our 4 year olds learning style after one semester of full time preschool? Ever try asking a preschooler what their favorite things about school are, "Besides playtime, yes not including imagination station, your favorite things besides playing, no mac n' cheese is your favorite food not a subject at school ..."
My main concern in choosing a school is at this young age do I pick what he likes, what I like, what will prepare him for the world or what will prepare him for 6th grade? Some schools seem to have a non-competitive vibe "cooperation and collaboration, not competition, are emphasized," which is really great, but will that be preparing him to be crushed in an extremely competitive capitalist society, plus he'll be getting enough commie indoctrination at home, just like he'll be exposed to the arts at home, should he be going to the science and technology school?
It comes down to this, should we be choosing a school that reinforces our values and interests of being open minded, creative and socially conscious, or one that teaches him things that he won't be getting at home? I don't have a fucking clue ...
We're just coming out of two weeks of 104.5 fevers and missing Thanksgiving at all three grandparents homes, no more than three hours of straight sleep due to being awoken because of our congestion, runny noses and sore throats, and in the 22 month old's case, being miserable and not having the vocabulary to express how shitty you feel.
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