Children and School

Over the last little while I have noticed something in my neighbourhood that has concerned me and it is the number of school age children that are out and about in the neighbourhood during the school day. I was out in the neighbourhood around 2pm and noticed quite a few children that should have been in the public school at that time. What I did noticed that in some cases they looked like they had been out grocery shopping with their mother and it was their job to carry the groceries home from the store.

I know that when I was going to school the only time we ever started home was when we were sick and we had to be really sick to even think about staying home. I remember the farthest I ever went when I was missing a day of school was to the doctor's office and back home, there was no shopping done along the way.

I am not sure why parents are allowing the children to take the time out of school to help with shopping or such because the shopping could be done after the school day. The other thing I have noticed at least in our area is that when we go to the mall at any time of the day there are quite a few children with parents there instead of in school. What is interesting is the school is actually next door to the mall so if the child is well enough to be walking around the mall shopping they should be in their classroom.

I think if the parents are letting the children miss school it is teaching them a lot of bad habits. These are going to be the adults that don't want to show up for work on time or even to work at all if they just don't feel like going in. I know that we all want to miss work or school at some points but getting into the habit of going unless you are sick does make you a better person. It shows that you respect the system that you are in and are not taking things for granted. Our school system here is pretty good and I think that the parents should be doing more to encourage the children to attend classes and to be on time.

Balancing Work, Personal/Family and School Life

Before anyone can say anything, I admit that I do enjoy taking courses. I finished college and my parents jokingly said I was going to be a professional student, and I can say yes, I am. There is something about the actual learning that I really enjoy. Yes, I get stressed and sometimes frustrated, but I normally enjoy the learning.

So balancing all the different parts of my life can get a little difficult. Running a small business with my husband does mean a schedule that does fluctuate with demands from clients. This means that standard work hours aren't always there. So the balancing of even personal and work sometimes can be a challenge and now add on assignments, exams, and weekly reading for school, and it can be very difficult.

I am one of those individuals that gets frustrated when I feel like I don't have control of my life. I am known to have long to-do-lists, and that is because I break things down on the list, so I can see progress. My to-do-list is sometimes the only way I can manage everything that is going on in my life, and I do put even the smallest things on it sometimes to ensure that I don't miss them.

As I am writing this blog, I am balancing two courses, lots of work and personal and family demands that I need to deal with over the next little while. Knowing that I have done this in the past does help, but there are still days when I want to just give up and hide and not deal with any of the items that I have on my to-do-list.

Balancing work, personal/family and school life can be a challenge, but it can also be very rewarding. Knowing that I can do everything that I need to do and still have some time to relax occasionally does really help. So, before I realize that there is something else that I should be working on today, I am going to do and relax for a bit.

School schedule

When I was going to school, you were supposed to be in the school yard before the final bell rang. If you were late, you had to go to the office and explain why you were late getting to school. I don't remember having to go to the office because I was always in the school yard ahead of that bell.

What I have noticed around where I live is when the final bell rings I still see a lot of children still walking in the neighbourhood, not even near the school yard. Has society changed that much that we don't respect the start times anymore. Maybe that is why so many people today arrive at work whenever they want, because that is what they have been doing all their life.

The other thing I have noticed is that on days that there is school I see quite a few children in the neighbourhood mall with their parents during the school day. If the child is sick, they should be at home and not shopping with their parents. If the child isn't sick, they should be in school learning instead of shopping. I know if we were caught out of school, there were prices to pay because the parent was reported, especially if you were just avoiding school. Maybe part of this lack of caring is because nowadays, schools can't fail a student until they are in high school. So nowadays it looks like you don't have to really learn, and you will advance to the next grade no matter what. So many students have the entitled attitude, and the automatic passing could be part of that. There is no real cost of not doing the schoolwork, I know that when I was at school if you didn't complete all your work you failed and had to repeat the same grade again.

I guess what I am really saying is there really isn't any discipline nowadays for children going to school. They seem to get there when they want (this could be the parent's fault or the child's fault) and miss school for what seems to be no reason. Years ago, you learned early on that school had a schedule, and you worked within that schedule unless you were really sick.

So if someone can explain the new school schedule to me, it would be great because I really don't understand it. This school schedule may not apply to all schools, but I know it applies to the school near me, and that is what I can use as a reference.