Today I started teaching Pierce how to write his name. We’re starting easy, just the first 2 letters, and adding a letter a day. I forgot how challenging it can be to teach a kid something so simple!

I’m not the type of person who pushes very early education…I think kids need opportunities to learn but they need to have time to still just be a little kid.

He was pretty excited to start, but after a few minutes got frustrated he couldn’t do it as well as he wanted and tried to quit. So, like a good parent, I bribed him

Last night was middle school orientation for our dd. It was nice to see the school and her classrooms.

But dh and I had a big problem with the presentations. They really focused on pushing trades instead of college.

They had a 10 minute video on how great trades are, how much money you can make, and that college is over rated. So why not just forget about college and do a trade?

I leaned over to dh and asked, “Are you biting your tongue, too?” He nodded.

Before I get my head bitten off, no, there’s nothing wrong with learning a time-honored trade.  Without it, there’d be much less plumbing, electric, etc. I respect people who can come into my house and fix something I can’t.

The problem I had is that there’s more to college than a degree and money. There’s a certain amount of respect that comes with a degree. People fight for and dream of college.  I did. I put myself through 2 years while holding a job and being a single mom when my dd was a toddler.   I could go on with why a degree is important to me, but I won’t bore you.

I think if one of my boys tried to go to college and hated it and wanted to be a welder or an electrician, I’d be fine with that. Or if he tried out a trade school through high school before college.  But to exclude college (as the presentation was doing) is doing the kids a disservice.