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Saturday, November 09, 2013

Textin' in the Girls Room

My daughters aren't allowed to use their phones at school.  So when they need to reach me during the school day about rides or other after school activities, they sneak into the girls room to use their phones to text me.

In my day it was "Smokin' in the Boys Room:"



Now it's "Textin' in the Girls Room." The new lyrics would be:

Textin' in the girls room
Textin' in the girls room
Teacher don't you fill me up with your rules
Everybody knows that textin' ain't allowed in school!

19 comments:

Clovis said...

Were your girls Pink Floyd fans, they would write with lipstick in the Girls room mirror:

"Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another twitter in the wall"

Peter said...

So when they need to reach me during the school day...

That we can read such a sentence without pause says a great deal about modern life and modern parenting.

Bret said...

Peter,

It mostly says that they can't self transport. If they suddenly decide they want to go home with Suzie, they do need to let me know that I shouldn't come get them; or if they need to stay after for help with a teacher, that I should come later.

Bret said...

Clovis,

I have played Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here for them. The Wall wasn't one of my favorites. They probably heard that line though, and I'll always remember your version now. LOL.

Peter said...

Bret:

I get it. I'm just charmed that your daughters' father so adores them he has let himself be convinced they should be allowed to break school rules because they come between them and their Dad. :-)

I really do get it. My nineteen year old, in whom I am well pleased, texts home back and forth all day because texting has destroyed his generation's ability to plan ahead. Apparently it's bad form and pushy today to call in advance to fix time, date, place, etc. It all gets worked out in a stream of numerous last-minute texts.

Bret said...

Peter,

Because, for example, before math class, they're somehow supposed to guess that they'll need help after school with today's content? Or that I should just sit there in the parking lot in my car waiting for them to get the extra help, however long it takes?

I do adore my daughters, but I don't think this has anything to do with adoration.

So yes, not only do I allow my daughters to break this particular school rule, I insist that they continue "textin' in the girls room," even though I "know that textin ain't allowed in school." :-)

Anonymous said...

We handle that by not leaving to pick up a kid until after school is over. I suppose that it's only a 5 minute drive makes it easier on the kids, but generally they'll have homework or something else to work on until a parent arrives. Otherwise we say "ride your bike".

Peter said...

Because, for example, before math class, they're somehow supposed to guess that they'll need help after school with today's content?

Bret, that is just the kind of argument my son would consider irrefutable evidenced-based logical rigour. However, as I never recall being picked up from school in my entire youth, it strikes me more as as a classic example of ignoratio elenchi.

Bret said...

Peter,

Never recall, eh? They say memory is the second thing to go. :-)

Oh, and I suppose you're gonna tell us that you walked 20 miles each way through deep snowdrifts blowing across the frozen tundra of the great white north* with packs of wolves nipping at your heels too. My grandparents made up stories like that, but their's were vaguely plausible since they went to school before the horseless carriage existed and before global warming started. :-)

My kids don't go to a local school. We're a mere 6 miles from the school - walkable in theory, but a bit far on a daily basis in the modern age.

----

*What we call Canada down here in southern California.

Peter said...

You bet I did. Up hill both ways.

I'm no different, Bret. I'm just sharing the private mutterings that sustain me as I chauffer the entitled brood half the day. It is true, however, that if I had asked my parents for a lift to or from school they would have taken my temperature.

Clovis said...

I guess that, in many cases nowaydas, the in car time is the only one parents have to talk to their children.


But I am curious about this one:

---
Because, for example, before math class, they're somehow supposed to guess that they'll need help after school with today's content?
---
Are these after class questions the standard? So after school time the teacher stays somewhere to take more questions? Why did not ask them in the class? And what about trying to figure it out for themselves?

Bret said...

Clovis asks: "So after school time the teacher stays somewhere to take more questions?"

Yes.

Clovis asks: "Why did not ask them in the class?"

They usually are, but if the answer is a long one and only a handful of students need the answer, the teacher often suggests coming in after school.

Clovis asks: "And what about trying to figure it out for themselves?"

Good question. I do think the younger daughter ought to try and learn independently more often, and I'm perfectly capable of helping my daughters with anything they need to learn (EXCEPT for the older daughter's chinese class!), so we have been moving towards that a little bit more, with her trying to learn on her own more and then having me as backup at night.

Ultimately, though, grades are very important, and if utilizing the teachers helps with grades, then I'm all for it.

Bret said...

Peter wrote: "... if I had asked my parents for a lift to or from school they would have taken my temperature."

Was that true for your girl classmates as well?

Clovis said...

Bret,

---
They usually are, but if the answer is a long one and only a handful of students need the answer, the teacher often suggests coming in after school.
---
Is this the standard in US schools, or is it particular to your girls' school?

I need to remember the hours are all different for your guys too, right? For example, down here school is either the whole morning, or the whole afternoon. I guess your standard period is something like 9am to 3pm, no?

Then parents get out of the work by 3pm to get their children? How does that work for people who can not get out 3pm? And do they start the work day earlier to compensate getting out so early too?

Bret said...

Clovis asked: "Is this the standard in US schools, or is it particular to your girls' school?"

It's typical in San Diego schools. I'm not sure about the rest of the country.

Clovis asked: "Then parents get out of the work by 3pm to get their children?"

Not typically. I don't and neither does my wife. There are many "stay-at-home" moms of the children at the school my daughters go to, so those parents have no problem with pickup. It's hard for my wife and me. Sometimes my daughter stays in the library till 5. Sometimes I pick her up at 3, drop her off at home or at an after school activity, then head back to work. Today I rode my bicycle to work so my older daughter could have my car and drive herself and the younger daughter both ways.

Clovis said...

Bret,

---
Today I rode my bicycle to work so my older daughter could have my car and drive herself and the younger daughter both ways.
---
Well, that's another difference, down here people can only drive if older than 18.

BTW, why don't you solve this problem by giving her a car? :-)

Bret said...

Clovis wrote: "...why don't you solve this problem by giving her a car? :-)"

Funny you should suggest that, since that's been my older daughter's preferred solution for which she's advocated vociferously for the past couple of years. There are a number of reasons we haven't yet done that.

1. She feels too damn entitled to a car in my opinion! What does she think this is, socialism? :-)

2. I can't figure out why the decrepit old guy (that'd be me) can manage to ride his bicycle 22 miles round trip to work, while the young, triple-varsity athlete can't manage to ride her bike 12 miles round trip to school. We're talking San Diego here, so it's not like there's any adverse weather conditions.

3. Until recently, my wife was "between jobs," so we weren't comfortable adding a 3rd car to the "fleet."

However, we do have a car on order, so in about 5 weeks the older daughter will have regular access to one of the old cars.

Anonymous said...

See, you did that wrong. We bought our son a car when he was 6. Now that he's 16, he can drive it :-). The insurance rates on a 10 year old car are much better than a new one and we got 10 years of nice driving out of it.

We've also made it clear it has a care because it's convenient for us, his parents and he'll be taking on transport duties for his siblings because that's convenient for us as well.

Clovis said...

Bret,

I can assure you I have not been sponsored by your daughter :-)

My parents gave me no car and I would react the same as you if my son thought he was entitled to one. I was indeed thinking of her borrowing an extra car of the family instead of having one in her name.

I have a few friends who got everything - cars, apartment, etc - from their parents, and I think it was no favor, they've lost the taste of achieving by themselves.

In a side comment, I think in most US states, California very much included, life is pretty hard for the carless. The public transport system is non existent and so many streets have not even sidewalks. It is a country made and thought for cars. No wonder your daughter feels entitled :-)