renée a. schuls-jacobson
To Read or To Unplug?
Do you let your kids completely unplug over the summer, or do you keep them reading?
If so, what books are your kids enjoying? Please include the age and gender of your child.
And for even more fun, tell me what books you enjoyed reading as a kid and what you remember liking about them….
Let 'Em Quit or Make 'Em Play?
When I was in the third grade, I totally wanted to play the drums. But back in the 1970s, girls were not encouraged to play percussion instruments. Nay, the “banging” instruments” were reserved for the boys. I was, however, presented with a shiny, slim flute and told that if I was ever good enough that, one day, I would be able to play the piccolo. Whoop dee doo.
Years went by, and while I may have played well enough, I just never felt anything for the flute. In fact, at one point, we were robbed and I actually prayed that the robbers had taken my flute. They did not. In middle school, on band days, I used to look back at our strawberry-blond haired drummer, Kevin Eastman, with a kind of longing and wish I was the one be doing the boom-tap, boom-boom tap thing. …
Moving Up Day Speech by Melanie Ward
This speech was delivered by Melanie Ward, Principal of Mendon Center Elementary School on June 22, 2010 on its annual Moving Up Day Ceremony which occurs on the last day of school. As in any good speech, the speaker’s words have resonance not only for the graduates but for all audience members, and I asked Mrs. Ward for permission to share her words here, for parents to consider: How well are we, as adults, fulfilling the advice of an elementary school principal to her graduating students?…
Kids and Guns
With which are you more comfortable and why?
Your 11-year old child having a Facebook account? (Note: According to Facebook policy: “In order to be eligible to sign up for Facebook, users must be thirteen (13) years of age or older.) Or that same 11-year old owning and using an air-soft gun?
Do you find the question ridiculous? Do these things concern you at all?…
Big Bucks, No Whammies: Lessons on Gambling
When my boy was very young – maybe four or five years old – we had just completed our grocery shopping when he noticed a man in a green coat feeding dollar bills into a machine that then shot out shiny tickets. He asked me what the man was doing and what the machines were for and I thought, Aha! Now this is a teachable moment if I have ever seen one! I licked my lips, certain that this would be, without a doubt, the lesson on gambling that my son would never forget.
I explained to my littlun that the man in the green coat was buying scrach-off tickets. That each ticket had a different price, and that the man had a chance of winning a little money (as in the same amount as the cost of the ticket), a lot of money (in this case, up to $500 smackers) or he could lose everything….
Post Vay-Cay Gratitude
Having just returned from a fabulous, week-long Tauck-Bridges Tour that started in Phoenix, Arizona, moved through many of our National Parks and ended in Las Vegas, I am finding re-entry into everyday life a little rough as we were so very pampered. Where is my breakfast menu? You mean I have to start cooking again? Sigh. But now that the six loads of laundry are behind me, and I have a fully stocked refrigerator, I would like to take a moment to express a little gratitude because it is easy to get sucked back into the daily grind and forget how wonderful it was just 24 hours ago. …
Favorite Vacation Memory
What is the best family summer vacation that you have ever taken, either as a child or an adult? Location and a favorite memory, please….
Breaking Up With A Friend
One day, I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but I realized our friendship was unraveling. Once, we had once joked that we were Frog and Toad, the infamous amphibian duo created in a series of children’s books by Arnold Lobel, but suddenly, it just didn’t feel good anyone. Actually, that isn’t quite true. It wasn’t sudden at all. There had been a series of transgressions on both sides. Years of hurt feelings that had never been addressed. What makes relationships end?…
A Thank You Note To Ed
Most people are fabulous and supportive and interesting and delightful . . . but there is always that one person who shows up drunk to your party and throws up in your bathroom….
Lessons in Losing Things
I said to my boy: “And just so you know, assuming you live a long time – and I hope you do – you are going to lose stuff. A lot. It happens. I lose things all the time. I write notes to myself on slips of paper and they disappear. I don’t know where they go. I lose bills and receipts. Bottom line is, you have to know that you are going to lose shit, and you have to know it’s not worth losing your shit when you lose something.”
He giggled.
“What?” I asked.
“You said the ‘s-word’ a lot.”
He’s 10….