March 2007 Archives

Congratulations are in order for my eldest daughter tonight as she was nominated by her teacher for something called The National Young Scholors Program Apparently, it's a nationwide program where the brightest 3rd, 4th and 5th graders in the nation go to a week-long camp during which they do fun, brainy things. That Ellen was nominated for something like this doesn't in the least surprise me. Quite honestly, nothing that Ellen does academically surprises me at this point. She's as bright a child as I've ever met, and everyone knows it, including, clearly, her teachers.

However, as Kim and I have discussed, if it's a program for someone with a disability or learning or even behavioral problem, the goverment falls over itself to pay for it. If, however, you have a talented and gifted child and the program is to enhance what they do in school because what is available to them in school bores them to tears, it's time for the parents to fork up the dough. How many parents of bright children can afford to send them to this National program? Well, at $1900 for a week, I'm guessing not that many. The priorities of this country are seriously askew.

Tonight, after Katie finished dinner, she disappears upstairs to go shower, and Ellen, Kim and I are all still finishing up. All of a sudden, Katie reappears crying loudly, for no apparent reason. Through her sobs, I discern that she's upset because our neighbors, 3 very sweet kids that Katie and Ellen play with (and were playing with today), decided to explain to Katie what a serial killer was. As Katie sobbed, she explained that she was scared of the serial killers.

Poor bug. Our kids are very sheltered. They've never watched scary movies or TV (except the last Harry Potter movie, which was pretty scary, and only Ellen went to see it, not Katie). Katie hasn't even read the more recent Harry Potter books because they're too scary. In fact, she covers her ears during the scary parts of the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets--and covers her eyes during the movie.

I know many parents whose kids have seen all sorts of frightening movies and TV, and are mostly inured to those images, but, for good or bad, ours mostly aren't, and I'm guessing that Katie's dreams won't be pleasant for a few days.

Today, and about time, we pried Katie's training wheels off of her little Schwinn bike and set her zooming along. Enough of the telltale rattle of her training wheels--she is ready for the open road. With me running along beside her (well, waddling along at speed), she leapfrogged well ahead of the pace that Ellen set in mastering the 2-wheeler. For about 30 minutes, we trundled up and down the street until daddy needed to rest and Katie retired, proudly, into the backyard to cover herself in dirt. I would imagine that just a few more goes with either Kim or I dashing along next to her and she'll be freewheeling it alone.

And then like that *poof!*, she's gone!