Good Ole Fashioned Hard Work

It's a Tuesday night at the high-school and the halls are packed with parents making their way through their child's scheduled classes. They go from one class to the next meeting the teachers and hearing a little about the classes they are taking. They have the opportunity to ask questions in some classes but in most it's just a 'sit and listen' type of session.

Ryan and I walked through Tyler's classes and learned this will be a challenging year for Tyler, academically speaking. She has AP US History, or APUSH as it's called by the kids, honors English, geometry, Chinese, and two elective classes.

While listening to Tyler's Chinese teacher tell us, in her best English, what she expects in her class and how she teaches both 1 and 2 in the same class room a cell phone rings. There is always one. The owner of this ringing cell phone is sitting in the front row and the teacher is answering her question. The parent picks up her purse, gets out the cell phone and answers it. YES, she answers the cell phone and has a one minute conversation with the person on the other end. Using her hand to cover her mouth and the phone was supposed to make her less rude... not really. I was shocked and amazed at her utter disrespect for the teacher.

And you wonder why kids act the way they do...

After that we moved on to several more classes ending in honors English. Tyler was assigned Fahrenheit 451 and Lord of the Flies to read over the summer. They were to answer questions about the book and take notes in the margins of the book as they read it. The expectation was that this would be collected on the first day of school. As Ryan and I listened to the teacher speak a father spoke up and asked why the kids weren't getting any credit for the summer reading. The teacher explained that those assignments were created by the other honors English teacher and she had picked up this class after the assignment was sent home. She explained further that the assignment wouldn't have been something she would have assigned and that she will be grading the kids differently.

This did not sit well with a few parents. The father who posed the initial questions proceeded to grill this poor woman about her teaching style, her grading scale, and insisted that his child get some sort of 'reward' for all the hard work he/she put in over the summer to complete the assignment. The man continued his line of questioning for at least five minutes, past the final bell, to where I almost stood up and defended the teacher. Here is what I wanted to say to the parents who said "but they did all that work"...

It's a shame that you expect your child to receive some sort of tangible pay off just because they worked hard. It's a shame that you are teaching your child that they deserve some sort of tangible pay off when ever they work hard. Couldn't the pay off be that they had to learn how to balance the work they had to do with what they wanted to do or that they learned a great skill to take with them to college, or that some times you work hard only to have it pay off later.

I was really disappointed in the parents at this open house. That conversation should have taken place privately if the parents felt that strong about it. They should have never blasted her like that in front of others. I felt horribly for her. I was embarrassed and uncomfortable. I think another parent felt the same way and she just interrupted the father and asked if the teacher wanted our surveys regarding the open house event.

Ryan and I left the class room angry. How is that people feel so comfortable attacking another person like that? Common courtesy is fading fast. I was the only one after each 'class' that thanked the teachers for their time. Not one other parent spoke up. They just got up and moved on to the next one.

It wasn't until after open house that we found out that Tyler forgot to tell us her English class and geometry class were switched when she picked up Chinese. We weren't even in the right English class. Tyler happens to be in the class where the kids are being graded on the notes from summer reading.

Ryan commented this evening, "so we had to listen to that jackass for nothing". No, I don't think it was for nothing. While it was painful at the time it just reaffirmed that Ryan and I are doing it right. We are teaching the kids the value of hard work. You don't always get a monetary pay off or a reward you can see. Sometimes the reward is a feeling, a feeling of pride or accomplishment. Those rewards are ones that will carry with you for a life time.

So what... rewards do you look for in life?
So what... are you teaching your kids about hard work?
So what... motivates you to complete the task?
So what....

So What... 's for dinner?

Tonight Tyler and I had left over steak burrito's for dinner and boy were they just yummy.

I used very thin flank steak and just cooked it in a skillet with burrito seasoning and salt and pepper. (2 mins on each side, if that) I cooked this yesterday for dinner and when I asked everyone how their dinner was, all I got was groans and moans. I guess that means the family approved.

This got Tyler and I thinking. It started as a joke but the more I thought about it the better it sounded. We have decided that we will have a burrito dinner week. I don't mean steak burrito's everyday. I mean think of the possibilities. You can have chicken, ground meat, steak, carnita's, fish, veggie, breakfast... plus all the toppings, black beans, tomatoes, corn, salsa, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, peppers... the list is endless when you think about your personal tastes and if you do breakfast burrito's as well.

I thought we would have to win over Ryan but he is all for it and here is why.

The weeks that we have Tyler consist of me working until 4:30/5:00, going to pick her up from marching band practice and not getting home until after 6:00 PM. If you know one thing about our family it's that we don't do a lot of take out or eating out. We prefer to cook, or at least I do. In order for me to get a healthy meal on the table we are looking at a dinner time of at least 7:00 PM for something simple. We also have nightly chores and home work to accomplish. This can be a lot for any person/family and cuts into the dinner "how was your day" conversation.

So here is how the burrito week idea works:

Sunday: As a family decide on the on the menu. What types of burrito's will you be having and on what days? Make a grocery list and go to the store together. Once you are home, work together on prepping and cooking the food.

Ideas: Prep all veggies needed, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peppers, beans (do what you can in advance, I suggest you don't prep avocado in advance as it doesn't last). Some will require chopping while others like the beans and peppers will require cooking.
Prep all meat on Sunday. Cook the meat expect fish. This way it's ready to go on the night you need it. The fish can be cooked the night of the meal, just pick a night you don't have a lot going on.

This family prep time gets everyone in the kitchen on a day/night where no one HAS to be any other place than home. Most times during the week I find myself in the kitchen by myself for two reasons mostly, our kitchen is small and the kids have homework they have to get done.

Once all this prep is done all you have to do during the weeks is heat up the warm stuff and set the table. This allows for the time I know I look forward to and that's hearing about everyone's day and not rushing through to get to all the after dinner stuff. This also cuts down on the dishes that have to be done each night during the week.

If you are looking for ways to get in the kitchen with your kids but still have time around the table to enjoy the meal I suggest you try this.

Who knows it may lead to Pizza week, Salad week, Burger week.

So what will you try... think of the possibilities.