So, Mr and Mrs X, How Do You Feel Johnny Is Going?

Have just returned from Parent Teacher interview evening.........exhausted. What struck me were the recurring themes.

He/she doesn't see the relevance of History/Geography/Maths (insert subject here).
He/she is not motivated.
He/she never shows me their diary.
They have always 'done their homework at school'.
They have not written in their diary.
They are mainly interested in their social networks.

(Slightly worrying that on my return home when I asked BabyAngel whether she had done her homework she told me she had 'Done it at school!'.)

It's Middle School (sigh). Truly, children between the ages of 13 and 15 should be sent to a training camp in the bush. They should be taught to canoe, abseil, climb trees and cook on a campfire. They should sing songs, learn bush dances and how to survive for 8 hours on one canteen of water....between 3 of them. There's a school in Victoria called Geelong Grammar which does something like this. The kids are sent off for one year to the country campus called Timbertop. They board and they deal with all the issues surrounding the 'Getting of Wisdom'.
Great idea. Just don't ask me to teach there :-D

I heard it said somewhere recently that in most societies the ritual initiation of children into adulthood occurs with the support of the entire community. Witness the indigenous Americans and the sweathouse rituals; the aboriginal boys who are taken away by the men of the tribe and subjected to all sorts of hardships; the Masai warriors; the Inuits. Similar rituals accompany the advent of womanhood. Western society is the only group which does not do this. For some reason we think we can handle the rites of passage, which other whole communities support, in the closeted environment of the nuclear family. Now this may be a generalisation but it may also explain why there is so much depression, addiction and teenage suicide running riot in our youth communities.

It may also be why so many parents reach out via the web or community support groups-baby groups etc-to other like minded parents, for support and advice in this complex privilege we call parenting.

God Bless Us and All Who Sail In Us!!!!