Good to be back!

Well thank you for the hearty welcome back Mom!

And Phoenix, not only have I witnessed that particular breed of "rink mom" but I used to be one of those kids out on the ice thanking God that my mother was outside smoking a cigarette instead of inside the rink. The only skating advice she ever gave me was, "Fall on your ass. At least that part of your anatomy never swells."

I competed for the final time in my career when I was 18 years old and while other kids' parents were browbeating them for coming in 3rd, my father's response to me after seeing my standings posted was, "Well, technically you didn't come in dead last. There was that girl who dropped out..."

Being a teacher I will never understand why some adults react to children the way they do. Telling your child or student that he or she is a failure certainly does not, in my opinion, constitute a good use of your adult wisdom. Even if that child is in the corner talking to sock puppets at the age of 16 or wildly trying to pound a very square plastic peg into the very round ear of a classmate, you never tell that child that he or she will be a failure. Hey, my dad ate paste until he was 7 and he turned out pretty damned good. No one ever told him he was a loser for snarfing up the kindergarten adhesive like it was frosting on a cupcake. Sometimes you just have to remember that kids are kids- not miniature adults.

On that note, I'm off to be artsy out on my porch because I'm tired of packing my giant amounts of crap.