School days, school days

Good old golden rule days.....yes school has begun. The children finished their first week of school. Christopher declared middle school"AMAZING".  The girls loved it but were a bit less exuberant.  Seems life is rushing by mighty fast.

Can I really be the Mom of a middle school child? The days of school yard crushed, primping in the mirror, silliness and so much more.  I remember this age, vaguely. However it was a different time and place. Society was different, so different than what my children face.  Our world was a different place. We had never had school shootings.  We did not really know what  terrorist was or even that people could hate America so much they would hurt people. I am sure it existed, but we didn't know about if.

Life was different. Sure the economy had its ups and downs, but most people could compete in the job market without a second thought. There was no 24/7 access to media.  There was no Facebook, no cellular phones. You played outside until the moon came out.  Now days, most kids, not all, are media savvy, more so than their parents. In fact, homework usually needs some form of media to assist in the completion of said homework.  The rules seem like they are different, and that is because they have to be different. Sure some kids got in trouble, did drugs, drank etc.  BUT...having drug sniffing dogs in schools or metal detectors was unheard of.

Bullying though, it happened and it was bad, but no one addressed it. Adults deemed it boys being boys or girls being girls.  At least, they now know bullying is horrific and it damages children.  They have learned that words can and do hurt.

I can only imagine how the world will be when my future grandchildren are in school.  As it is, my first grader is learning stuff I probably did not learn until 4th grade or so.  My 3rd grader is learning stuff I learned in middle school and my middle school child is learning stuff I didn't learn until high school or possibly college.  It is astounding.  Kids are smart, they can do it. However at this rate, my kids will be smarter than me by 8th grade...and in some areas they already know way more than I did.  I have to ask for help to help them with math.

There are terms they learn I did not know existed.  They get a WHAT? is that look when they ask for help.  I either ask their father or google it. Speaking of google, there was no google when my parents needed to help with homework. Actually, they just told me to ask the teacher.  I was pretty much on my own to figure it out.  That is just the way it was done then.  Now, I help my kids IF I can, if not..I seek help.

School days........just aren't what they used to be........but I do enjoy watching my kids grow and learn.