Oh really? Come on

One of the paramount things you have to do in my line of work is communicate. Anyone and everyone. Sadly some of the communication deals with young people who are struggling with growing up and taking care of business.

I tell all my young people that school, like life, is a game. They are rules. They are shortcuts. I try to ingrain into them that what they do in the classroom, how they act when they move from class to class, how they treat other people, and importantly how they act when no one else is looking is a fairly reliable predictor to what they are going to represent as an adult. It's simple really but oh so elusive for some.

I have a student who is really struggling and just incredibly negative. I wanted to touch base with his parents, because I've got to communicate, right? I compose the email offering support, informing them of his current status in class, generate strategies to help him turn it around.

I search the school data base for his parents email address and this is what comes up:

**********cokehead@******.com

I send the email for all the good it will do. Why we don't mandate parenting licenses is beyond me. Have a great Friday and Halloween.

I am at Center again

Ahhh, order has been restored to the homefront with the return of Kim from D.C. As I write this, the twins are laying next to her and have covered her with stuffed animals also. Hard to tell she was very missed ;).

As Noah, Rach and myself waited at the gate, I had a chance to do some quality observations People are so interesting at airports. You can't but help to conjure up scenarios to fit the people you watch. I saw lovers reunite, families come back together again, brothers greet sisters and vice versa, kids coming for the court ordered obligatory visit to a divorced parent, grandkids reconnecting with grandmas and grandpas. Life rich pageant was on full display.

I'd much rather be at the arrival gate than the departure. Something far more positive in that experience. Peoples faces are interesting as they arrive. Apprenhension and excitement fill the air. I like watching peoples faces make that rapid transition from one state to the other. It's sweet:)

Two last, no make it three remarks before I close this blog for today.

#1 Phoenix has long had the reputation of being the breast enhancement capital of the U.S.A. We may not be able to win an N.B.A. championship but we are going for a five-peat in the breast augmentation championships! I even noticed my 10 year old shaking his head a couple of times. More about him later....

#2 While mentoring future teachers today I learned that you are not to, under any circumstances, touch let alone play, with Mercury at any time. Rewind back to my childhood to the era of old school thermometers. If they broke, which they did quite often, My Mom and Dad would say,"Come here Dave! Check this out and pour the liquid Mercury into my hand to
play with until I grew bored. It was cool how this metal looking stuff was a liquid! I also learned today that Mercury is absorbed into the skin and can cause insanity. I knew I had a legit reason!!

#3 I offered Noah $10 to go up and hug someone getting off the plane that he did not know. I was right there, it was a controlled environment. He wouldn't do it. Sigh.....