Posts Tagged ‘kids’

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Open to ideas

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Hi folks!

I’m using my little soap box today to solicit some ideas.    My 4 year old is in daycare during the day with his younger brother and a bunch of younger kids.   He’s also been acting up.

Our suspicion is that he’s bored.

I can see that, he’s out of his age group, so he pretty much acts like he’s in theirs.

So here’s my plea for ideas….

Does anyone have any ideas for a multi-day project that a 4 year old can work on with minimal supervision?  I don’t know that he’d be much of a gardener, he’s a bit young to muck about with construction tools (though a hammer and nails might be doable).  Welding’s out (though on the list for when he’s older…yee ha!).

I’m in uncharted territory here, but I need to find something to engage him before he drives us nuts.

For those of you who’ve been there…any ideas?

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I’m proud of my little monkey

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

This morning, as we hung out on the bed before breakfast, my oldest wrote his name all by himself in one of those lined pads for learning your letters.

The letters were shaky, the N looked more like an M, but full of confidence and pride, my son leaned back and beamed, “Now I can write my name in the concrete!”

About a month ago or so when we got his end of the year status report from pre-school it said that he was still tracing his name, but not yet doing it on his own.

I have to replace some concrete on the corner of the house where I installed a short apron, so I told him, if he can learn to write his name, he can scratch it into the concrete when I’m done.   I barely thought he was listening let alone paying attention, but it stuck with him.

This morning he wrote his own name, and he remembered.

And I am proud of him.

I guess now I have to get cracking on that concrete project.

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Welcome to the water park

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

My oldest wound up missing out on a recent trip to Six Flags and it’s water park.  Being the (sometimes irritatingly) smart tyke that he is, he realized if he puts the hose up on his backyard slide, it gets wet and he goes faster.

Well last night he and his little brother had a grand old time on their “water slide”.  It was nice,  but not exactly environmentally friendly as all that water just goes elsewhere.   So since I don’t want to drain the well just for their amusement, I came up with something else.

They have a wading pool, I have a utility pump, voila.   Our very own little water slide.

I think they’ll like it.

Super high tech, I know.

The Aqueous Dispersion Device

Our Aquatic Propulsion Unit

Careful ultramodern infrastructure was key to the project's success

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Taking the art out of smart

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

There’s a trend in school systems to remove “useless” classes like art, music, drama, gym, etc.  in order to save money.  There’s a group of kids that did a great job with a video on the subject:

While I agree with the sentiment, I think people are approaching this wrong.   The argument time and time again from the schools is that they don’t have the money for these programs, they’re busy teaching what kids need for standardized testing.
Ok.
Think for a moment.
Why not lobby your congressional representatives to get arts and physical fitness requirements built into those tests?
It makes sense really, being able to think creatively is a valuable skill.  Sure, 2 plus 2 equals 4, but what do you do when you’re on an engineering project and the structure’s off the marks by 2 cm and the bolts won’t fit?   Someone who can think creatively, who can innovate can come up with a solution that’s outside the box.   Getting a group of band kids together to play their hearts out on main street is a good way to attract attention, but it’s not the way that the school’s work.   Schools aren’t run by people, they’re run by manuals and regulations and drones implementing that mountain of drudgery.   So the trick is to get your cause into that mountain.
I’m not saying the standards aren’t important; Heaven knows if I knew what I did about doing my taxes or computing water/investment ratios for mixing up a casting mold, I would have paid more attention in math class.   Don’t dump the standards, but don’t sacrifice innovative thinking in the bargain.

While I agree with the sentiment, I think people are approaching this wrong.   The argument time and time again from the schools is that they don’t have the money for these programs, they’re busy teaching what kids need for standardized testing.
Ok.
Think for a moment.
Why not lobby your congressional representatives to get arts and physical fitness requirements built into those tests?
It makes sense really, being able to think creatively is a valuable skill.  Sure, 2 plus 2 equals 4, but what do you do when you’re on an engineering project and the structure’s off the marks by 2 cm and the bolts won’t fit?   Someone who can think creatively, who can innovate can come up with a solution that’s outside the box.   Getting a group of band kids together to play their hearts out on main street is a good way to attract attention, but it’s not the way that the school’s work.   Schools aren’t run by people, they’re run by manuals and regulations and drones implementing that mountain of drudgery.   So the trick is to get your cause into that mountain.
I’m not saying the standards aren’t important; Heaven knows if I knew what I did about doing my taxes or computing water/investment ratios for mixing up a casting mold, I would have paid more attention in math class.   Don’t dump the standards, but don’t sacrifice innovative thinking in the bargain.

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CVS part 2

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Here’s the CVS situation from my wife’s POV:

Dear CVS,

I have been using your pharmacy for years, first because a store was within walking distance from my apartment, and then because your pharmacies are linked so I didn’t have to transfer my prescriptions when I moved. It has been convenience of location rather than satisfaction with the customer experience that has kept me as your customer for so many years. In the last several months, I have been frequenting two stores – store #708 at 676 Southbridge Street in Auburn, MA and store #166 at 115 Stafford Street in Worcester, MA. Nearly 75% of the time I leave the pharmacy counter or drive-thru window feeling that CVS has yet again failed to meet my ever-lowering expectations. This evening was the final straw.

My 2-year-old son visited the doctor today, and his prescription for antibiotics was sent electronically to the pharmacy at store #708 at approximately 3:15 PM. I arrived at the pharmacy a few minutes after 5PM and was informed that my son’s prescription hadn’t yet been printed and that it would take about 10 minutes to fill. I elected to wait. I shopped a little, and returned to the waiting area after about 10 minutes, but my order had not yet been filled. I took a seat and waited some more. Other people came and were told to wait as well. Those same people were called in short order and left; I was still waiting.

For an hour and fifteen minutes, I waited. Every time there was a lull in customers, the counter staff would disappear before I could ask about my order. It wasn’t until another customer mentioned how visibly upset I was as she was being rung up that anyone behind the counter made any eye contact with me. They checked their system again and finally, at 6:30 PM, my prescription was ready. When I asked for an explanation as to why I had been made to wait for 90 minutes for something that had been submitted well in advance of my arrival, the answer from Adam, the Shift Supervisor, was that he just didn’t know. I had seen him speaking with someone in charge of filling and checking the prescriptions, so if Adam didn’t know what was going on, it’s pretty clear that neither did the other people who worked there.

I was already extremely unhappy with having to wait 90 minutes for a prescription that I had initially been told would be ready in 10 minutes. The fact that no one seemed to claim any responsibility for allowing the prescription to fall through the cracks is even more insulting and infuriating. I didn’t bother to speak to a manager at the store because a) I had already been there for an hour and half and didn’t want to stay longer, and b) if the Shift Supervisor could do no more than say “I don’t know” and offer an insincere apology, I doubted anyone else in the store could do more. I hope an e-mail to Corporate will at least reach the Regional Manager, or some other competent person in a position to do something other than tell me they’re sorry.

Thank you for your time,
[removed]

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Seriously? Over 2 hours for antibiotics?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

My youngest was diagnosed with a simple ear infection today.  I feel bad for him, but it’s something kids get at some point, no problem.   So around 3:30 when I left they called in a prescription for him, and I took the kids home so CVS had some time to fill it, asking my wife to pick it up on her way home from the office.   At 5:30 I got a call from her letting me know it still wasn’t ready, so I sent this to CVS.    Pleas to enjoy:

I was wondering if you’ve undergone some sort of substantial personnel issues in your Auburn pharmacy recently.   Today my child’s doctor called in a prescription after his 3 pm appointment for antibiotics, and today at 5:30 when my wife showed up to get it on her way home, she’s still standing there 40 minutes after being told the prescription would take 10 minutes to fill.  Given it was over an hour old, it should have been filed and ready for pickup already; this was one of the reasons I didn’t take the kids over to get it on the way back from the Dr.; to give you folks some extra time to get it ready.
Yours is one of the more convenient pharmacies in the area, but honestly I’m about ready to start looking at Walgreens or even Wal-mart instead if CVS is straining so hard  to fill a fairly simple scrip.

I was wondering if you’ve undergone some sort of substantial personnel issues in your Auburn pharmacy recently.   Today my child’s doctor called in a prescription after his 3 pm appointment for antibiotics, and today at 5:30 when my wife showed up to get it on her way home, she’s still standing there 40 minutes after being told the prescription would take 10 minutes to fill.  Given it was over an hour old, it should have been filed and ready for pickup already; this was one of the reasons I didn’t take the kids over to get it on the way back from the Dr.; to give you folks some extra time to get it ready.
Yours is one of the more convenient pharmacies in the area, but honestly I’m about ready to start looking at Walgreens or even Wal-mart instead if CVS is straining so hard  to fill a fairly simple scrip.

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Health care professionals just don’t get it

Monday, March 8th, 2010

I’m going to start this off by going against that statement above and say that yes, I understand that the health care providers are overworked and often borderline robbed by the insurance agencies via negotiated discounts.

But that doesn’t mean that they have to be asses.

I took my oldest in for a dental cleaning this morning, it went well as a 4 year old’s dental cleaning can be expected and the I booked him another appointment.

Given he’s in pre-school in the mornings now and I a) find that vastly more important than his dental visit and b) am paying actual money to have him in those pre-school classes, I’m hesitant to pull him out of them early for other activities.   The school’s dedicated time to teach him, we committed to time for him to be there, screw you third party.

So I was a bit taken aback when the pinched face blonde behind the counter gave me “well they usually prefer to do the younger patients in the morning” line and pushed me into an early morning appointment instead of the afternoon one I requested.

Irritated, several hours later I called back and instead asked for an afternoon appointment.  Worse comes to worse I could get him a morning appointment on a morning he doesn’t have school, but he’ll be 4 day in the fall, so I’d rather just get it in the afternoon.

Again, I get “well Dr. ____ usually prefers to do the younger patients in the morning but…”   and I got an early afternoon appointment.

Let me share a secret with you, Mr. Dentist man.

Ready?  Move closer….

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.

See that right there?  Simple truth.  You’re treating a human being, I’m sorry if I’m impeding your tee time or your drug rep time.  But my son’s a human being, and as his father I’m charged with setting priorities that help HIM, not you.

I put his education before other things, and if you don’t like it, there’s a whole phone book full of other dentists trying to pay off their student loans.

OK, off my soap box for a little while.

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Pleasant daddy son time

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Due to some technical issues, my latest chess set *cough*glowing pieces*cough* won’t be ready in time for tomorrow’s home show.  It’s a shame because I think it would have made an awesome showcase piece, but hey,  schtuff happens.

Given my wife’s out on a girl’s night out this evening, after I got our youngest to bed I took a giant chance and let my 4 year old help me stain the chess board blank and the chest for the chess pieces.   Let me assure you, if you think letting your little boy use poster paint is terrifying, you’ve not felt the adrenaline until you let him attack the far more aggressive wood stain.

But, he was really well behaved tonight and listening well (otherwise I would have put it off), so I put down plenty of newspaper and he and I went to work.   Given it was less expensive to replace should I have to, I let him work on the wood blank for the board.   I’m pleased to say he did a great job, and there was a minimum of mess.

For those interested, Formula 409 will take off small spots of wood stain from kitchen tile.

My big guy was SO well behaved, in fact, that I let him stay up a little longer and let him watch an episode of Dirty Jobs.  Then he went to bed without any fuss.

Now it’s glass of wine time for daddy.

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So what do I do here?

Friday, January 8th, 2010

I have a little one in my town’s school system and as part of him being in school, we signed up pretty much every method of contact we have with the school’s “One Call Now” system.  This is, in theory, a system that would be used to provide emergency and crucial information to parents.   For example, once they sent out a message about a sex offender seen in the vicinity of one of the schools.  That went to our house phone, both cell phones, and a couple of email adddresses.  Another time I think it was used to wake us up at quarter to 6 or so via phones (plural) to let us know about inclement weather closings.  This is fine, and a perfectly reasonable use of an emergency type system.   I was annoyed to be woken up ahead of the alarm, but it wasn’t an unreasonable call.

But the superintendent of schools seems to also like to use the system for other things, albeit not always using both phone and email.   For example, before Christmas we got a phone call on the house phone and both cells wishing us a happy holiday and letting us know there are seats open on the school buildings committee.  Today I received an email letting me know that the high school team is playing some hockey game at the local stadium.  This, to me, isn’t an appropriate use.

I called the education office and I asked if there was a way to get on an emergency message only list vs. the emergency and oh all this other junk list.  There’s one list, you’re either on or off it, but I get the feeling the poor woman I talked to has fielded these calls before.

So what do I do here?  Do I remove my contact information from the list and miss out on the “there’s a knife wielding crazy in your son’s pre-school classroom” messages, or just leave it be and create a special filter for the superintendent’s drivel?

I’m thinking it might be worth taking up with the town selectmen at some point because it’s pretty obviously a misuse of a valuable system.  Or am I being too sensitive?

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It’s the little things

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Tonight I had a short, 2.5 hour show.  It’s one I’ve done the past couple of years and it’s actually one of my favorites.  See, this one’s in an elementary school and it’s mostly for the kids to do some holiday shopping for their parents.   That means the parents go roam, mingle and enjoy some baked goods while the kids mostly do their thing on their own.  It also means that there aren’t parents looming behind them, arms gripping them backwards, saying “Glass, don’t touch!  Look with your eyes! Very fragile!”

One of my favorite things about glass is that it’s such a tactile material.  It warms to your touch, it cools to the air around it.  It can be smooth, it can be rough, it can be sharp, it’s a lot of things all in one depending on what the artist decided to do with it.  Of course I want people to touch the merchandise!  99% of the kids that wander through are perfectly OK touching the glass, and the other 1% usually are messing with it just to drive their parents mad.  I break more things than my customers (or their kids) do.

So it’s nice, the kids come by, ooh and ahh, pick stuff up, ask questions, call their friends over.  It’s just overall, a very pleasant experience.

Don’t get me wrong, the parents are nice too, but it’s just a much more relaxed experience with the parents not stressing the kids, and by doing so, sucking them away from my table (and potential sales!).

So I had this show, and incidentally I think I did better at this one than I did last year, so that’s a plus.  But my guilty pleasure was on the way out, several other vendors commenting they were jealous of my packing “system”.   The way I have it set up, barring my nemesis, the stairs, I can move my tables and all 7 boxes in and out of the building in one trip.  Ah, the little things.

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