The School Mosquito

Strange name for a post but this is what I feel our school has become. A blood sucking mosquito. My kids are coming home regularly with their hands out for money for excursions, assignments, classes the works...AND THEY AREN'T EVEN OUT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL YET!

Caitie and Aiden were told they HAD to have the school diaries. $10 each when I had bought them both a perfectly good generic one for 97c down the road. Each child is being charge $80 to do sports off campus. Why? Because they apparently compete against the other schools in the area. Caitlin is being charge $20 for Home Ec...but she brings her own ingredients. $50 each for computer studies when the computers were donated to the school. Conor was charge for an excusion that was cancelled. Aiden has an outstanding account of $3.60 for another excursion. I ALWAYS pay for the excursions up front, so explain to me why I am being charged????

Add to that the daily torment about their uniforms and I am ready to rip someone apart. Detention for wearing tracksuit pants with a formal shirt, detention for wearing the wrong length sock, detention for wearing a coloured HAIRBAND or headband.

It has to stop...why? Because my kids go to a State School. Not a private school, a bloody state school!

C

Stone Angels

K, so I'm not a religious zealot and I have my own faith thankyou very much Mr Knock-On-My-Door-At-Dinnertime. I just wanna know when we turned into such horrible people!

I am in gobsmacking awe of just how bad people have become. Famous examples...Lohan who believes that she shouldn't HAVE to go to jail when she was told to quit drinking and had a purdy bracelet to stop her...the nutcase Venables who figured that he had a new name, new life so he could pose as a PARENT and offer his "daughter" to other perves and download porn from other parents...I just found a website on a church that protests outside FUNERALS of soldiers killed in action cause hey they don't believe in any war effort and tough poo its your fault you got killed and you're going to hell.

On the homefront, people who don't listen and learn and then whinge when everything goes pearshaped. People who believe that a position of authority equates to power and then wield it like a sword trying to cut everyone down who doesn't agree with them. Twats on Facebook who believe their opinion is the be-all and end-all and if you disagree wrath doth rain down. People who join any form of club as a hobby and denegrate other members, run the clubs into the ground, throw tantrums that would put a two year old to shame and fling around law suits like they are yesterdays washing.

I have one simple message for you....GROW UP!

As I said, I ain't religious but lets just look at what the Ten Commandments, or ten life lessons can teach us...

1)You shall have no other Gods before Me- Roughly translated, there is A god...you can believe in whoever you want, whether it be black, white or brindle, just stick with one and stop flinging different beliefs in...oh and that means one ain't biggerer or betterer than the rest.

3) Make no idols etc etc etc- Wellll, maybe that means can we please take Australian Idol off the air, puleeze??? Cause its taking off all the good shows.

3)Taking the Lords name if vain- Can we just try to cut down on the swearing and the cussing? When I hear my six year old yelling, "Oh for Gods sake..." Even I wanna smack him one. If it ain't your God or belief don't use it, you'll just piss someone off!

4)Remember the Sabbath day- as much as I wish it means let me sleep in, I firmly believe that it means take one day, whatever day it may be, to honour and cherish your family and faith. Whether its the Catholic Church, Jewish, Islam or even just going for a walk in the bush and drinking in all that Mother Nature has to offer. Take time to worship your life!

Now we get to the gritty stuff...

5)Honor thy father and mother- This is not rocket science. We have been here far longer on earth than you have and we are still alive therefore we must have done something right. What we say goes, unless you can come up with a reallllllly good reason why. Its our perogative to listen to you, nod wisely and then say no....because we said so.

6)You shall not commit murder- Well doesn't that just explain itself???? Who the heck thinks they are so important that they can take someone else's life away. Or someones Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Best friends life away. Put down the knives and the guns and talk stuff through. Don't be killin someone cause they gave you plain salt instead of chicken salt on your chips.

7) You shall not commit adultery- If you want to dip your wick in someone else's candle, DON'T. Not only will you hurt yourself in the long run but you will also hurt your kids, your friends, your family...thats what fantasies were invented for. Close your eyes and picture Angelina Jolie.... or Brad Pitt if you're a wandering female or both if you're undecided.

8)You shall not steal- Why on earth do young people believe that the world belongs to them??? When did it become passe' to take stuff. Bring back the slap-upside-the-head-coppers I say. It doesn't belong to you, so leave it be!

9)You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour- in other words, unless you know something for a fact, shut the hell up! So many people indulge in idol gossip these days that is hurtful and denegrates people. What do you think school bullies do??? Just quit it.

10)Don't covet nothing!- Ok, I changed it somewhat but I sooo wasn't typing about your neighbours ox. Roughly translates into- you got your own stuff, leave everyone else's stuff alone. If you want it, earnt it, stop sitting there googly eyed cause you can't have it.

Ok, so thats my version of the 10 Commandments.

It just kills me that so many kids are adrift, so many people are lost in our society today. When we took away the Church, we took away the simplest of life lessons. We didn't have to have a bible to learn to be good but we do need a list of rules. Take away the rules and people don't have boundaries and don't know how to act. Again, it comes down to one hard, concrete fact....Be true to yourself, act in a way you would like to be remembered, practice tact and discretition and you will remembered as being a good person...and isn't that what we all want? To be good.

C

Suffer the Little Children

A teacher is a person we entrust our children to for six hours a day, five days a week. He needs to convey a sense of leadership whilst encouraging a nurturing environment in which the students can learn. He needs to share his wisdom and teach his philosphies with integrity, diplomacy and most importantly, passion.

In 2008 Caitie was subjected to six months of abuse from her Grade 5 teacher. Her entire class was subjected to this evil man. This "teacher" threw chairs and desks, called the children filthy names under his breath, yet was heard by the students, he grabbed one child hard enough to create bruises and he knocked Caitie to the ground as she stopped to do up her shoelace. He then laughed at her. He clipped students around the head and called them idiots. This man was not, nor will he ever be, fit to be a teacher. Two years ago we campaigned to have him removed from the school. He left on stress leave and we were told he was never to return. After months of holding my daughter while she cried and begged to stay at home, I had a happy girl again. After six months of failing grades, Caitlin found that school could once again be a safe place and she blossomed under her new teacher.

Yesterday I was given the news that this man was returning to the school to take over Conors year 1 class. A man who could not handle a group of 9-10 year olds is being given the job of teaching 6 year olds. In 2008 he took a group of 4-5 year old Prep students for a swimming class and was screaming at them to get dressed, causing quite a few to burst into tears. This will be the third teacher for the class due to the first teacher, Mrs S going on maternity leave. This wonderful educator took quite a few weeks to find the perfect teacher, Miss H to take her place. Now, her choice of teacher is being pushed to the side to make way for a monster. In a meeting with Miss H to discuss the students, she asked him if he wanted to return to teaching, he said no. Was he happy to be back teaching, he said no, he was biding his time until retirement. A committed, enthusiastic young teacher is being replaced by this man who is using Year 1 as a placeholder until he can retire.

That is just the kind of person I want in charge of my childs education.

As Bertrand Russell once said, "More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given."

I couldn't put it better myself. Let him back and suffer the little children.

Sadly

Cindy

The Return of Super MUM!!!

Life has been insanely frantic lately. We are leading up to a huge weekend and this week has been manic. Monday I worked as well as gromming, delivering furniture and organising my next few weeks off training.

Tuesday we delivered furniture and picked furniture up from Ipswich. When I got home I discovered I had forgotten to groom one of my favourite clients so had to race to school, pick up the kids, then groom Fleur the poodle, race home in time for a wonderful lady to come over and choose her new fur baby.

Wednesday dawned with a flying visit to a friend and our work partners home to pick up shelving for the shop and visit with Fairy Mouse, her daughters companion Devon who left our home for her house and likes to eat our cake!

Thursday, furniture deliveries to Eatons Hill and back to the shop where we rearranged the entire shop and cleaned out the store-room, THEN flying out the door to deliver repairs and other stock which we no longer needed.

Friday will be another nightmare day with my final hand surgery happening at 10am. While I spend the rest of the day resting (yeah right) husband will be tending to the shop as well as delivering two lots of stock in the afternoon.

Finally, Saturday and Sunday will bring no less than six Agility runs per day! Nell and I are competing for our Novice Agility, Jumping Dog Excellent, Snooker Dog Novice, Gamblers Dog Novice and Strategic Pairs Excellent titles or qualifications. I am going prepared with plenty of toys, a new collar and some yummy chicken wings for Nell to help keep her strength up. There is going to be good food, great company and fantastic competition all weekend.

BRING IT ON!!

Cheers!

A Huge Day.

At the end of the Summer holidays, the kids and I went to the Museum and, on a whim, followed through to the Gallery of Modern Art. There the kids came in contact with an artwork by Australian artist Ron Mueck. It was a gigantic sculpture of a woman in bed. The realism was amazing at it blew my kids away. So when we found out that he was having a display at the Gallery, well we had to go!

We went around the entire display and I asked each child to tell me their favourite piece. The kids were enthralled with each work and amazed with the depth of detail each one had.

Aidens favourite was the newborn baby "A Girl". It was gigantic and so realistic.

Big Head is another favourite of all three of my children. Each individial bristle had to be hand placed into microscopic pores. He even has his teeth in place and nostril hairs!

Another interesting fact about this piece is that it is a like a giant mask. There is not substance to it, it is literally a mask!

We all found this one to be quite disturbing, mainly for the fact that the subject seemed unaffected by the fact he had been stabbed and was bleeding. There was no emotion. This one affected Caitie quite a bit.

Now we all know boys love gruesome stuff but even this one was a bit gross for my boys. This dead chicken, called Still Life, is about the size of an elephant and hangs inelegantly from a butchers hook suspended from the ceiling.

It is gory and real yet strangely puppetlike. You expect the thing to suddenly start flapping! It was a magnet for alot of children.

If you went around the other side of the bird, you could see where its throat had been cut and all the innards exposed. Very clinical though, no blood.

This gentleman, in his big boat, seemed cold and grumpy to the kids. He held little interest as he was not on their eye level.

Caitlins favourite piece is "In Bed". She told me when she first saw it that she thought the lady was very sad and unhappy. She kept coming back to it though. It was interesting to watch how many people copied her hand position without realising they were doing it. I find her disturbing and heartbreakingly sad.

This is a very jolly lady, attuned to her work. Mind you, there is no way I would be picking these up in the nudy! The balance was excellent, symmetrical.

One of the more "controversial" pieces to show children. It is called Wild Man and Conor liked him immensely. (He secretly told me he liked that he was in the nude. Caitie said that she thought he had a small penis for his size LOL). I did tell my kids before going in that they would be seeing graphic nudity and they already knew what a willy looked like. After a few little sniggers, they settled down to look at the sculptures as a whole rather than just the rude bits.

Yes, I did blank out his bits for those who don't really want to see a gigantic big willy. This was another confronting piece. The title suggested someone who was used to being on his own and the subject seemed anxious and uncomfortable being thrust, naked, into the spotlight.

Caitie and Aiden assessing the gigantic baby. They found the blood and placenta traces to be both fascinating and appalling in equal measures.

While I appreciated the detail, I found this one to be the most unrealistic of all the pieces.

And finally, my favourite piece. Titled "Old Woman In Bed", it is an elderly woman who appears very ill, sleeping huddled under a blanket. It is beautiful in a very sad way. You want to walk up and gently brush the hair off her brow and whisper quietly that it will be alright. It captures a moment between life and death and the Gallery had it hidden away around a corner. Absolutely beautiful.

So, there we have it. The Ron Mueck exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Its a must see if you are in the area.

I will post more of my kids trip to the city at a later date. I am tired right now....

Cin.

Long Time...No Post...

Yes, it has been a while. Yes, alot has happened, yes we are busy and yes I think I keep forgetting to breathe!

Four weeks ago Aiden was swinging on one of the huge 20+kg benches we have in the kitchen and flicked it forward whence it fell and smushed his toe. Having three accident prone kids makes one slower to react, so we both sat there and looked at him with a "you're a twit" look on our faces...until he started bellowing that there was blood pouring out. After looking at it we both agreed it was my turn to go to the hospital (yes we take turns, that is saying something doncha think?) Result? Aiden ripped the nail OUT of the nail bed then pushed it back through the quick. He also split it right around the top but didn't manage to break it. After three weeks of constant trips to the doctor, antibiotics and him wearing only one shoe to school, the toenail finally fell off and it started to heal.

And this is it after three weeks of bandaging and after the nail fell off. A week or two later and he is actually wearing shoes and healing well!

Conor had a disagreement with his bed...this provided another fantastic photo opportunity cause hey, I don't have enough pictures of my injured kids! I should start a collection.....(hmmmm)

Mothers Day was spent going for a bushwalk with my three peeps who decided half way around that fighting like banshees was a preferable option to enjoying the fresh air and autumn sunshine. Isn't that what most Mothers had to put up with?

This, of course, was taken prior to WWIV breaking out. See, they can act like normal loving children occasionally.

Q is growing into a handsome young man who is loving life in all its glory. He is funny, silly and very cute as well!

And finally...if I hear one my child telling me...Its not fair, I'm not doing it, how come I have to...I will scream!

C

2 Boys = One Bed = Trouble

Aiden and Conor are really bad at cleaning their room and end up playing typical boy games. This was the result of their last one...


That is a fantastic bruise on Conors behalf and within a few hours had become a gorgeous black eye. No sympathy from me!

On another note, whilst training my rather large and rather exhuberant male stafford to do the chute tunnel at training, he bit me. He came through the tunnel like an express train, knocked me over and play mouthed me with one of his canines going through my lip...yes it hurt....(sigh) and I wonder where Conor gets it from!

Cheers