Are You Kidding Me?
I woke up this morning to about 1/2 inch of snow on the ground. I can still see parts of my grass. The driveway was covered, but parts of the road was still visible. You know what I did? I left a few minutes earlier than I usually do, and I drove a little slower. I still managed to get Ada to school a minute earlier than their requested time*.
When I got home, I checked out the paper. Surprisingly, there were school closings. It isn’t fun to go out in cold, wet snow, but it isn’t impossible. I did it. Lawrence, however, wasn’t one of them and there is one person who can’t fathom why the Lawrence school district didn’t cancel school in this weather. They question why school administrators put their precious little babies at such risk. This person even declared that if anybody died on the road today, he/she was going to picket the last day of school to remind them that a life was lost because they didn’t cancel school today to save one less day of school in the summer.
Really? Why are people turning into such whining pansies? Why can’t they just not make the logical decision to plan to start their day a little earlier since meteorologists have been warning for more than 24 hours that we could get around 5 inches of snow. Why do school administrators have to make the decision for parents to keep kids safe? If parents feel this is such terrible, dangerous weather, can’t they make the decision themselves to keep their children safe? If someone dies on the road, why is it school administrators fault? Do they control the weather? Do they decide that someone go out without appropriate tires? Or drive too fast? Or talk on their phone while driving? Even if your gripe is that it could get dangerous in the afternoon, couldn’t you just leave early and pick up your kids if that happens? If you gripe that it makes you leave work, wouldn’t you have not been at work anyhow if they had canceled school?
I know that some people have grand plan for their kids, and I used to think that I really didn’t. I realize that is wrong. I do. I do not care what their hobbies are. I do not care what their career decisions are. I only care that they can make their own decisions. I care that when they do, they accept the consequences, good or bad, and that no matter what, they are in control of their lives. They may not control all external factors, like the weather, but they do control how they handle those factors. That’s pretty much my job as a parent.
*School starts at 8:30am when the kids go outside. They go outside whether or not your child is there. If you don’t get there in time, you can bring your kid a little later for the start of indoor time, or you can just have them go straight outside. The earliest that they request you bring your kid is 8:20am. I shoot for the earliest time just in case something happens so Ada still gets there to go outside with her class on time.
Absolutely!
I’ve gotten in more near accidents by cell-phone to head distracted parents dropping kids off *this close* to late around Deerfield school… and that’s on a sunny morning too.
The age of entitlement is upon us… “we deserve to be safe from inconveniences, gosh, like having to be careful and responsible and making our own decisions!”
GAh!
I could be wrong but I thought they cancel schools when the roads are too dangerous for the school buses. Many people that people that do have to work have a hard time finding someone to watch their kids when school is cancelled. Why would you live in Kansas if you are going to complain about driving your kids to school when a couple of snowflakes are coming down?