Fooled Ya!

I am sure most folks who know me thought I was going to pick a different "topic" today. Fooled ya!

I was thinking of a number of possibilities, mostly adjectives. I finally settled on Frantic.

I have been watching students who have put their school work on the back burner on a stove in another county for the last several months. Now that there are only 7 weeks of school left, these same students are now frantic in their efforts to boost their grades. I just shake my head. I prefer not to wait until the last minute to do things (except some of the papers I wrote for my second degree - hated those busywork papers *grr*).

Now this frenzy of frenetic foolishness is getting these students where exactly? I truly do not understand the choices the students make being acceptable to parents. There is no excuse for being unaware of your own child's schooling. Around here, many parents work shift work at the coal mines. This means the parent is gone for 14 hours a day, including driving time. These shifts are from 7 - 7, both night shift and day shift. Most of these folks work 14 days out of the month, and not in a row. That leaves at least 14 more days in the month that the parent can catch up on the parenting part of the child's life.

Believe me, I understand the frantic rushing around of meeting work demands, home demands, and life in general demands. But there is a time to say "No" to the optional things. I recently chose to stand down from my office in my sorority because I know it was taking too much from my time with my children, as well as finding the time to perform the duties that aren't seen during the meetings. I love my sisters in the sorority, but they want me to be at my best, so they were very understanding when I chose not to run for the office again.

That's only one example of slowing yourself down in your frantic life. If you sat down and even just thought about all the little things like that you do outside of the absolute demands of work and home life, you would be amazed at how much time you could find to be with your family. I have even told my mother that I need a weekend at home to do my housework, so going to town was out of the question for me. She understands. If the person asking something from you cannot understand when you say no, that is too bad. You sometimes have to put yourself first, so you can put your family first.

Frantic activity is most often the result of not making wise choices - believe me, I know. I recall a number of last minute posting for my class, because I chose not to write the paper early in the week. If I hadn't fooled around, or put it off, I could have had quality time with my children instead of getting to know my keyboard. The students seem to thrive on this frantic time, and I just shudder. I wonder what their future holds.