How do you explain Baltimore to a child?

It was one of the those snippets of history that my 9 year old caught sight of on the news.  The images of burning cars, a CVS on fire, people gathering in rowdy crowds so the fire trucks couldn’t do their jobs and watching people throw bricks and rocks at the police officers really impacted all of us.  My son, a cop’s child, curled up in my lap and watched the mayhem.

Ike:  Why are they acting so mean?

Me: Honey, this is just an example of groups of people acting foolishly.

Ike: What does that say on the screen?

Me: Rocks and bricks are thrown at cops in protest.  

Ike: What is a protest?

Me:  Let me see if I can explain…. the law says you can gather together in a peaceful way and protest when you don’t agree with something.  For instance, if your school said NO MORE RECESS for any kid that wears braces, glasses or has special needs, you would be mad right?  (We went through why he would hate that idea) If all the students and parents banned together and surrounded the playground chanting “We want recess for all.”  That is an example of a peaceful demonstration. The news might cover it and the school would have to consider changing their minds the longer parents and kids stood out there.  It gets attention.

Ike: Was this (pointing to the tv) because of something important?

Me:  Yes, a man was killed when he was arrested.  We don’t know exactly what happened but it sounds like the officers made a big mistake in the way they handled his arrest.  The young man had a criminal record but he didn’t deserve to die like that.

Ike: I don’t get it. Is this a protest?

Me: No this is a riot.  People try to mix those words up but it is different.  Remember I gave you the recess example?  Well what if they didn’t just assemble peacefully? What if someone chose to throw bricks at your principal’s car window or through the library windows, beat up one of your teachers because she asked them to stop and then broke in and stole all the books from your library?  Or maybe someone really stupid threw a fire bomb into the cafeteria? Would that help the principals or teachers decide to give back recess?  No, they would call the police, fire department, etc.  The people that did those things only made it worse and would need to go to jail.

Ike: My principal wouldn’t put up with that mess. They would all get ISS or even worse, AEP!  (It struck me as funny that he knew what those consequences meant:)

Me: Sometimes leaders of the community don’t really know what to do or can’t control the people in the crowds.  That is why the police are called in and if it doesn’t settle down, they call the National Guard in too.

Ike: But aren’t these people mad at the police?  This is confusing.  Martin Luther King Jr. protested and didn’t throw bricks.  (I was impressed he knew about this!)

Me:  No. He did it correctly.  He knew violence only made all the sides mad.  

Ike:  I don’t want them to hurt police officers.  There are some good people there right?

Me:  Lots of protestors are good.  They are doing it to make a change. But many times criminals pretend to be mad about something and just use it as an excuse to break stuff and make a mess.

Ike:  There will be more riots?

Me:  Sadly, until Jesus comes there will be lots of hatred going around.  Love always wins.  Remember that.  If you love, you will win in the end. 

Ike looked very sad.  He just curled up in my lap and watched more chaos. I finally turned off the news.  It was a terrible lesson for him.  I wish we all saw the world through a nine year old’s eyes. Maybe we would see a lot more peace and a lot less hate.  

Let the Bridges Burn

I have been on the other side of the table-ARDS, special ed meetings, etc as a teacher.  I didn't realize how hard it was as a parent on "that side of the table".  So let me start by apologizing as a teacher if ever did anything to complicate the VERY hard process of getting the best education for a special needs child.  This is new territory for me, meaning not being the teacher and being the parent of a student with lots of needs. I am caught on a fence about the teacher vs. parent thing.  On one side, I KNOW there are not enough hours in the day to give the kind of education Ikester needs in a traditional classroom setting. However, he needs individualized instruction. And he is MY kid.  So I will bulldoze my way through the systems as his advocate, even if it ticks off my closest teacher friends. He is worth it.  This might mean friendships, bridges that I don't want to burn and being on the "list" (you know the one-that "difficult parent list") but if he can read at the end of it, then so be it.  Let the bridges burn.  I will strike the match.

My youngest can put anything together, has a mind for science, puzzles and is quite musical but he has many learning issues. Ikester has learning disabilities in language arts, reading, and math.  Homework is a nightmare.  School is a struggle. Period.  Although he can read and is very bright, he spends so much time decoding that he doesn't have much comprehension and this bleeds into math and writing.  STAAR test is not even on his radar.  And to set the record straight, it is NOT on mine.  (As I have told many a student, testing is a TINY part of a fraction of your life.  There are so many more important things to worry about.)

 He needs a special kind of instructor every year. (Mrs. M.W...ohhhh God broke the mold with her!  I don't know if he will ever encounter such a match!!! But wow-so thankful for her!) We can't afford tutors or private school.  Because of my cancer, I can't homeschool him. Public school will probably fail him in many ways.

Things most kids take for granted, he has to work at three times harder to master or even slide by.  Reading math word problems, for instance, are horrible. By the time he has decoded the mini-paragraph, he has long since forgotten why or what it is asking him to do.  Thus, math scores plummet.  Writing is another whirlwind of confusion. He has great ideas but can not transfer them onto paper.  A simple sentence halts him in his tracks.  As a reading and writing teacher, this frustrates me to no end.  The three kids before him read with such ease and at such early ages.  On the other hand, he gets Biblical truths deeper than most.  I guess when you look at what affects your eternity, I would rather him understand the Bible than the blasted STAAR test.

It breaks my heart to see him realize that he is different. That is probably the hardest part of all of this.  When he asks if he is a "special needs student", I tell him no.  I say, "Some of the most brilliant minds in history had to take a different route to learning.  That is you.  Just taking a different route."  Since he understands maps, this makes sense to him.  Thank goodness because maps don't make sense to me.

While I loved teaching, there are HUGE flaws in the special ed system as well as the state when it comes to learning.  TEKS (objectives written by the state) are ridiculous and out of touch with the average student, common sense has been tossed out of the window in regards to developmental appropriateness, PE time and recess time stripped away, technical classes are deleted and the ones that suffer are this generation of learners. It is time to get fired up about all children's education, not just the elite learners.

                                            I say let the bridges burn.

Where is my blog?

I have a lot of people who ask me, "Why don't you blog anymore?"  Well, the answer to that is I used to get a lot of feedback on my articles/entries but then the format changed on this blog site.  It made it harder for people to comment.  I also got some private messages both written and verbal that maybe I should not be so serious.  I have to admit, this last one shut me down for several months. Basically, after a blog entry, if I heard anything, it was a "Can you please not talk about......" or "focus on all the good things in your life."  

So here is my response.  I am going to write about whatever I want.  I hope you read it.  I hope you comment.  A lot. I hope you make my thoughts go viral.  (Tweet it, share it, quack it....I love that!)That is a scary thought.

But if you do not want to...there are thousands of fluffy blogs with no real meaning or purpose out there.  Pick one. It will make you feel better.  I write real topics and I try to tell the real truth behind issues I know something about.  Some of my entries are funny or sarcastic. But some are angry.  Because let's face it, life may throw you roses but with roses come thorns.

No more censoring.  No more tiptoeing around hyper-sensitive people. No more dancing around what I believe.  No more keeping Jesus out of the conversation because it might offend someone.  If you ask me a question, I will try to answer it.

Love,

CeCe