Krazy Quote

"Drugs have no nutritional value." ---my daughter's 7th grade Health teacher

This quote has been soaking in my brain for about two weeks now.  This was how my daughter's drug unit in Health 7 started.  Those were the dynamic words that her teacher decided would impact his students.  Not since Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign have I heard a more lame anti-drug message.  So put down that spoonful of crack cocaine and hear me out on this one.  My daughter is 12 years old chronologically , but is a bit of  an old soul.  She is the kind of kid you can not snow with platitudes, and simple answers.  She can see through fakes, and smell lies.  I love her for it, and I struggle with her for the same reasons.  She finds her Health teacher to be an absurd person, not just because of the drug statement, but for a variety of reasons she has compiled since he was her PE teacher first marking period.  The issue at hand now is this teacher is trying to teach the approved curriculum for Health 7, and the curriculum appears to be very superficial.  I am fine with that.  I would prefer to have it as a jumping off point for our at home discussions on drugs, sexuality, and personal hygiene.  My concern is for the other students that have parents that are not as comfortable talking about sex and drugs.  What about the kids that are just getting the "Just Say No" and "Drugs have no nutritional value" as their messages?  Facts are good, and have value, but not enough.  I know that her teacher is very concerned with personal fitness and well-being, however 12 & 13 years old kids do not care about the nutritional value of things.  Okay, maybe a few kids care about the nutritional value of things, but probably not the kids that are confronted with the choice of using drugs.  As I see it, drug use in kids is tied heavily to feeling accepted and fitting in with peers.  Therefore, just saying no and nutritional value arguments are very unlikely to mean too much at the moment booze or a joint is being passed around.  It is in those moments that actual values need to come in play.  Values that can not be instilled by a class.  Values that need to be discussed, instilled, and practiced at home.

As much as I have mocked the quote by her teacher, I also embrace it as a place for us start talking about smoking, drinking, and drug use.  I am glad my daughter felt comfortable to come home and share that absurd statement with us.  It means that she feels okay introducing uncomfortable topics.  It is nice to not always having to be the one that brings up the tough topics.  If we can make it a little funny it is easier.

Parenting Advice

Don't think for one second that this is the post where she spouts all of her collective child rearing knowledge and advice. I have only been at this parent thing for 12.5 years. I can not claim any sort of victory in the parenting arena. That being said, you might think that I am open to hearing parenting advice. This would be erroneous. I am a live and learn kind of person. Things are going okay, so far so good. God also blessed me very easy children. Aside from some stubbornness and feistiness, that was likely inherited from the paternal genetic contribution, they are both really enjoyable people. If I were not their mother I would still think they were very cool people.

However, today, despite my general apathy toward parenting lectures, books, and advice in most any form, I am attending two parenting type events. The first is a talk by a man who has a lot of kids. I believe the number is 13 kids, a mixture of biological, adopted and foster children. Yes, 13. That is a crew. This man also writes. I am more interested in the writing perspective, but I also have a sick fascination with large families. God did not give me the uterus to produce, or the patience to handle more than two kids. It will be fascinating to hear what this man has to say about parenting a brood of such size. It will likely leave me feeling glad I just have two kids and two pets to manage everyday.

The second parenting type event is a presentation called Drugs 101. My beloved is accompanying me to this event. I currently have no drug concerns with my kids, but I also feel that information on such a topic is good to have. Knowledge is power in this situation. The flyer for Drugs 101 had a series of questions about the current drugs of choice for young people. I did not understand about seven of the questions at all, so I signed us up to attend. I will certainly let you know what I learn, or if anything silly happened. Hopefully, I will pay attention. In large groups I tend to start people watching, or pick up on the speakers vocal tics. If the speaker is an "ummer" I often tally mark all the "umms". Yes, this speech defect is distracting to me. It also makes it impossible to comprehend the content. Thankfully, my beloved will be there. He is a good listener, and has no public speaking training so he does not notice vocal tics; like, umm, okay, and yeah right. It is good to have such an unflappable wingman. Seriously, I do need to become more aware of the current drug culture. I have only heard excellent things about this program and it comes with a large amount of handouts. The handouts will be my saving grace because I am person that learns better through reading. Prepared to be dazzled by my drug information in future posts.

Parenting advice is still not my thing, but today will be informative. I know that I will learn something. If nothing else it will give me more topics to cover here.