Ok, so my son started kindergarten last week and while looking over his school calendar I am dumbfounded by the amount of days off of school kids these days get. I am not here today to boast about how hard I had it as a kid, you know all the stories....When I was a kid I had to walk to school, up hill both ways in two feet of snow. But, I must say, I did have to be at school way more than kids today.
So next week my son has two days off after being in school for all of eight days. This creates a huge burden for families like our that have two working parents. We have enrolled Ethan in the after school program at his school and they have child care on most days when school is out, BUT you have to pay A LOT of money to send your kid there all day. I know he will have a blast and he is looking forward to being there but I am having heart palpitations thinking about the cost.
The other beef I am having with the school right now also has to do with money. The first week of school Ethan was sent home with three requests for money. They are all legitimate requests but it seems they are all needed within a week. Maybe next year on the school supply list they should put, be sure to take out a loan to pay for all the stuff you will be asked for the first week of school and the childcare for all the days your child will NOT be in school!!!
There was an article on MSNBC this weekend about how some school districts are cutting down or even cutting out recess for kids in school. You can read the full article here. It is so sad to think that schools are under so much pressure to perform that they are forgetting their main focus....the kids! I for one am a huge believer in recess for children in elementary school. My son who just started kindergarten would not be a happy camper if he was in class all day with no outdoor play. Since we live in Colorado, the kids play outside most days. In fact at his school, the temp has to be below 20 degrees before they play inside. I love this policy! My son is a kid that really needs to get outside each day and run off some energy. I can't imagine our drive home, even when he was in preschool and at the babysitter's house, and not asking him what games he played outside that day. This is a huge place for him to play out his imagination. He comes home with so many stories about what he and his friends played that day, along with what he did in class too.
I have to say that this year Ethan is blessed to be in a school that values play time outside. Each day he gets a morning recess, some recess time after lunch and an afternoon recess. He does go to after school care at his school but the first thing they do when the begin that time is have some free play time, most of the time in the gym since there are still other kids milling around the playground. I am sure this is helpful for not only the kids to get the wiggles out but for the teachers running the classes and programs to help focus the kids on the tasks they need to accomplish. Ethan's school also makes sure that all the classes get to go to P.E. twice a week and I am so grateful for that as well. With the fact that my hubby and I both have to work full time and Ethan has care after school, there are some days with very little time to play outside when we get home. I can only hope that this policy at his school remains in effect through his tenure because I would be so sad to see the schools cut things like this since they have already had to cut other programs. One great website you can also go to and get great ideas on how to make sure your kids grow up healthy is Michele Obama's Let's Move that can be found here.
