I've had blogs rolling around in my head for the past several days but sitting down to write them all out is another story. The only reason I'm doing it now is that I have a few minutes to kill while waiting for our oldest to get ready to help me with a day's worth of yardwork.
I guess that segues into my first blog......days off. I love when people say "You're a teacher? I bet you love all the days off that you have." I just smile and nod. What I don't tell them is that I don't have days off. To me, a day off means a day at the spa without any other obligations. It means lying in bed (when you're not sick) all day, reading. It means spending the day window shopping alone or with friends. I can't remember the last time I've done that. I'll sneak away for a pedicure but that lasts an hour at best. The last true vacation I've taken away from life was a couple years ago when my good friend came to town for a visit. We snuck away to the beach for the weekend and it was absolutely glorious! No responsibilities whatsoever. But time like that is rare. I don't have days off because I'm a parent and a homeowner. My weekends are spent doing laundry, mopping, cleaning stinky boys' bathrooms, yardwork and yes, schoolwork. I usually spend an hour or two at school every weekend because I enjoy working in the quiet of my classroom. At home, I usually spend another hour doing lesson plans. In between all that I try to be a fun mom and a devoted wife. I do things the boys or Rob want to do- a Pelican basketball game, a family work picnic, taking our youngest to a dirtbike track because that's his latest interest, going to the trampoline park with the boys. No matter what I'm doing, I can tell you that I'm not sitting around. I'm not relaxing, getting ready for the next week. I am trying to better our house or create family memories or just catch up from last week when I couldn't squeeze in that last bit of laundry that had to get done.
This weekend I have help with the yardwork. Our oldest hasn't been making the best choices lately. One of his more dumb choices earned him a detention at school. Rob and I are both firm believers of tough love. So when the boys get in trouble at school, they also get in trouble at home. Our oldest is not a huge fan of manual labor so as part of his punishment, he's going to help me do yardwork on this beautiful Saturday. I know we're strict parents but I am ok with that. I am ok, knowing we are helping raise productive members of society. I am ok knowing that our boys know who is in charge in this house. Recently, a person posted a few articles on FB about how you don't need to discipline your child. You need to be their friend. I believe that our kids will have a lot of friends in their life. What they need is structure, discipline, rules, guidelines, and tough love. Through that a friendship will form, one that can grow as your child ages. I teach kids every day, some who I can tell are disciplined at home and some who don't know what discipline is. Those are the kids I worry about, the ones who aren't disciplined. Because they don't know their choices have consequences at an early age, they tend to make more stupid choices as they get older. But, honestly, I could stay on this soapbox for a long time. So I'll just end this section by saying that, in our house, we show our boys tough love in hopes they will become hard workers who make good choices and contribute to society when they become adults. All because of how they were raised and the discipline they were shown growing up.
Last but least the Coronavirus. I try to write this without inserting an eye roll because I know that it is responsible for many deaths in China. That being said, I really don't understand the paranoia in the U.S about it. Comparing life in Communist China, where decent healthcare is not easily accessible and sanitation is pretty non-existent, to the U.S., where everyone has access to healthcare (Thanks Obama!) and sanitation is everyday life, is like comparing apples and oranges. I have been to other countries so I speak from experience when I say, consuming meat that has been sitting out all day in filthy conditions is not uncommon (How are you supposed to get proper nutrition to stay healthy and build your immune system eating like that?). People and animals will use the bathroom wherever it's convenient. I remember when I was on a mission trip in Peru. A dog walked into the church where we were conducting VBS, pooped at the front of the church and no one did anything about it. (I had to walk out of the church building because I was gagging so much.) In Israel, people would squat down over holes to use the bathroom. They'd eat with their hands (Which they did not wash beforehand) because silverware was not a way of life. Life in other countries is not like life here. I am not saying that the Coronavirus is not serious. Sadly, if there is an outbreak in the U.S., I am sure some people will die because of it. But we have access to state of the art hospitals. We have access to antibiotics. We have access to clean water. At the very least, we have access to soap, running water and hand sanitizers. So, in my opinion, is the Coronavirus worth losing sleep over? No. Is it worth confining yourself to your house in fear of catching the virus? No. Live life. Enjoy life. And know, that life outside the U.S. is very different than what we're accostumed to.
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