Neil said:
I was traumatized beyond all repair.
Ahhhh...the genesis of this "Lester" character is becoming apparent.
Neil said:
Seven Thousand Dollars seems like a lot of green. Why not send them to Manitoba for some inexpensive hardening?
Wouldn't that be, like, CN$12,000...?
Stinkyfeet said:
Anyone else here have parents who ordered them to "go outside and play... and don't return until dinnertime!!" (yes, even at kindergarten age, IIRC).
<raises hand>
Growing up on a farm in the Leatherstocking Region, on weekends and in summer, my little brother and I would eat breakfast and then go outside for the entire day. The only caveat was to make sure we got back inside in time for dinner.
-We didn't have 500 channels (of crap) on the tele. Four channels -- ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.
-There was no Interwebs.
-xBox? Wii? PlayStation37? Puh-lease! We had Pong. 'Nuff said.
-Aside from Little League games, our afternoons/weekends were not scheduled full of development activities.
-"Play dates?" WTH? If one of the neighbor kids wanted to come play Army with us, he rode his damned bike over and knocked on our door. (True, our closest neigbor was 3/4 mile away...) Our parents didn't manage our social calendars.
-Oh, yeah...there were those little things called "chores." Not take-out-the-garbage-once-a-week stuff that my kids roll their eyes about. REAL chores, like feeding 20 head of cattle, cleaning stalls, stacking hay up in the hay mow in August (HOT!), fixing broken barbed wire fencing, chasing an escaped cow through field and forest for hours on end. (OK, that was actually kinda fun...)
Different times, fer sure.
Stinkyfeet said:
Puts a smile on my face to think what my dad's reaction would've been to forking over $7000 for kindergarten tuition. Times sure have changed...
Having had both my kids in private school earlier in their educational years, I can only say that a good local public school system is a wonderful asset!