Dear Mrs. S

Dear Mrs. S,

Thank you for being Aidan's kindergarten teacher! He is really enjoying your class, and hopefully, you're enjoying his presence too!

While it is super exciting to have a child in elementary school, it has been quite an adjustment for us, for the following reasons.

1. We need to get to school on time. I think there are two types of parents. The type of parents who are majorly stressed about getting their brood to school on time, and the type who try but aren't really bothered if they run late. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I fall in the first camp. That means, I am nearly hysterical if I even think we are going to be late. I much prefer to get to school ten minutes before you get the class and let Aidan run around a bit. I am not sure if the stress is a good thing for Aidan- whether it will help him to get to places on time as an adult, or make him scorn all those who strive to be on time.

2. Sometimes, I am not sure where my tax dollars go. It is simply shameful that the school has to do so much fund raising, or else the children won't have music lessons, books, or teachers! I also cannot believe that we have to supply printer papers, soap, and other supplies. Good grief. When I attended an American elementary school a very long time ago, we had all the papers we wanted! All the kleenex we needed! (At the time, I thought it was weird that American schools came with all this supplies, but I guess I had gotten spoiled.) Seriously, I cannot believe how much we have to give (it is paying another tax) to just be sure Aidan can wipe his hands.

3. Then, I wonder, perhaps the school should just levy a tax so that all these parents won't have to rush to Staples to buy the same stuff. However, when I was at Staples today, buying ten hand soap dispensers, I was shocked to see that the price was $3.99 EACH. I had signed up for ten of those for his class room. I was NOT about to pay $40 (plus tax!) to buy soap. I lugged Zoe next door to Target and bought them for $1 each. It was then super clear, that if the school did collect money for these items, parents will wonder, where is this money going? Why is it so expensive? Then it dawned on me. This was a simplified version of Obamacare. His plan of taxing people to buy healthcare for everyone, would probably mean that we no longer had a choice of what kind of soap, what kind of physicians, what kind of care we can determine for ourselves and inevitably, it will be much more expensive than if I had a choice in what to do about my care. Frankly, I like picking out stuff for myself! The government has no business running healthcare, when it can barely hold itself accountable to stay in its budget. But alas I digress...

4. Homework is HARD for me. I am so sorry that we slacked off on the first assignment. I swear, Aidan did not say that he needed to color things in. He said the most important thing to put on the paper is to write his name. So he did. I promise, I will MAKE him tell me what needs to be done, and darn it, I am going to stay on top of this! Even if it kills me.

Well, we will have to check in later about the progress of his acquisition of basic skills. I hope you will like us...

Cheers,
A's Mom