Since When?

My daughter and I went to fetch supper from the local fast food place and we were discussing her day at school today. She mentioned that, in gym class, they saw a bunch of younger kids on the track and they were riding bikes under teacher supervision. She and her classmates speculated that maybe that was part of the local elementary's gym schedule - to teach kids how to ride a bike.

True or not, it got me thinking.

Since when did teachers have to do most, if not all, of the parenting? Teaching a kid to ride a bike? Holy cow, that's a memory that should be made with the family. Not under the scrutiny of your predatory classmates. Teaching a kid table manners? C'mon. If you have supper with your kids every night at the dinner table and not in front of the television, they should learn, at the very least, the most basic of table manners.

Don't get me started on the parents. Since when are parents their kids' friend? How can a parent be both an authority figure and a friend? I am friendly with my kids and I think that they can confide in me when it comes to the little and big things. But, they know that, at the end of the day, I'm their mother. If they deserve to be grounded or have their manners corrected, by God, I'm gonna do it. Getting on the computer? A privilege. An allowance? A privilege. Well, maybe not a privilege, but it should not be paid without the chores that earn that allowance being done. My kids used to complain loudly about not getting an allowance. But, they know if they want most anything, including money to go to the movies with their friend, they will get it if I have it. If they want to earn money, it won't be for the normal chores that are part of being in a family. I'm not paying for my kids to do the dishes. I will, however, pay for them to wash my car.

Funny story about that. Last night, Hannah and I were laying on my bed, chatting about girly things, and she said she needed to earn some money to get Christmas presents. I asked her what she was going to do to earn the money and she looked at me, in all seriousness, and said, "Mow the lawn". I reminded her that it was winter and she said, "then it shouldn't need to be mowed much, huh?"