rambling thoughts

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I was driving along today on my way to the grocery store and several things happened to pop into my mind. One of them came to me because I had to stop for a crossing guard in front of the local elementary school.

Here it was during the school day and the guard was crossing school kids from the school to the church across the street! Yes, you read that right. The school kids were going to the church for some sort of bible studies. This caused me to remember that they have been doing this for years. I know a woman that used to go read bible stories to the kids at this school! Now where else would this be allowed? LOL.

The other thing I got to thinking about is do you guys remember back in the olden days when Paragoric was around? Or back when parents used to rub rum on babies gum to sooth teething problems? Paragoric had opium in it! LOL. Hello...no wonder Dr. Spock worked so well! The babies were doped up.

Ok...enough musings for today.
 

dreamer

New Member
I remember how sad I was when oldest started school and I found out the kids were not allowed to make any holiday crafts at all, it was politically incorrrect, well, kind of.......they WERE allowed to make Hanuka (sp) things but not Christmas things. ANd while I was not allowed to wear pants, turns out at our school they were not allowed to wear DRESSES!
Broke my mommy heart. Then I found out if a k-gartner (or older) fell and skinned both knees on playground- the school people were NOT allowed to even reach out a hand to help them up, or hug them, or pat them on the head, or even put a band aid on them, they had to HAND the band aid to the kid and the kid had to put the band aid on themself! :-(
Made me VERY sad.
Then I found out no homemade anything was allowed at school for parties at all. It HAD to be store bought. (I understood the reasons behind ALL these things, BUT it broke my heart, anyway) Eventually the treats at school rule got more strict and now treats must be store bought, individually wrapped, non chocolate, and now they also must be "healthy" such as granola, carrot sticks, apple slices, cold cereal etc and cannot be candy cupcakes etc.
What did surprise me now, like 10 years 12 years in? NOW this last year they DID do CHRISTAMS songs at the winter pagents!!!!! (Rudolph and stuff like that) AND at my dtrs chorus competetion this weekend they did a whole bunch of religious songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blew my mind!
BUT just before Christmas break my easy child dtr told me several kids got suspended for saying "merry christmas" to each other in school.........And her school tried to get one boy named Jesus to go by his middle name.....threatened to suspend him if he did not agree??????????????????
It also hits me a little bit when we go to the lil restaurant in town that serves alcohol and I see the teachers in there ........um.......clearly having had more than simply one drink? especially when they can clearly see their students sitting in the same lil restaurant. It bothers me a little. Maybe becuz they have these open Houses where they gather all us parents in the gym to teach us what constitutes a "decent" breakfast, packed school lunch, and dinner for a growing child? and they tell the kids they will suspend them if they do not shower and use deoderant daily?
I also take issue with the school telling the kids to go home and throw their parents cigs away.

Things change, huh? I do not think this is how it was for my mom when I was in school. LOL.
When I was in k-garten? Our school rented a room in a church cuz they did not have enough classroom space for us........LOL.
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
Janet,

My great uncle was a pediatrician, my grandfather a dentist. Between the two of them there was a great deal of common sense brought into our household.

They were both big fans of blackberry brandy for a cough, a swat on a diapered bottom (got a kid's attention) and that same brandy for cutting teeth.

My dad, being the son of a dentist & defiant to boot, let us cut our teeth on tootsie rolls (sweet & chewie) - gave my grandpa fits. :rofl:

Today, these same ideas would be considered abuse in some homes, states.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I remember my dad suggesting to my sister to use some brandy on her baby boy's sore gums and her freaking out on him! And that was back in 1984! Haha - My exmil told me that she (and other moms of the 50's) had a bottle of sodium penothol that she would give to her kids when they were 'crazy' or wouldn't stop crying...hmmm, exh I wonder?

Our schools still allow homemade treats but the teacher must get a list of ingredients just in case there are any allergies in the class. Rather than become generic, our schools celebrate every imaginable holiday...to the point of idiocy. For our winter concert the kids sing songs that celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice. It's very entertaining!

The only dress codes include no pants below the waistline, no halter, tank or tube tops and no skirts less than 10 inches long. Oh, and no midriff baring tops. No hats either. When I was in elementary school the girls wore dresses or skirts only, no hats, but lots of bows. In 3rd grade all the women teachers had a walk out and they all changed into pants (slacks) to get the rule changed at our school!! The BOE actually had a vote and it was approved for women and girls to wear slacks to school. But no bluejeans. Haahaa. I remember that my teacher was the coolest; she would let us listen to Simon & Garfunkle during our reading hour.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Anyone remember xmas pageants? Gosh, I sure do miss those! Every year all the classes in the grade schools had xmas carols they practiced their hearts out to sing perfectly for their parents right before xmas break. I also remember that although both parents had begun to go into the work force, somehow they managed to fill that auditorium during the day in the middle of a work week. lol

Closest my kids ever came was band a choir performances, but no one dared call them xmas anything. Sigh.

I never had trouble with making homemade treats for the kid's parties, though. I did it all the time. Seems a shame for kids to miss out on that now.

I remember rum on baby's gums. lol I also had the world's most foul smelling homemade diaper rash cream. It literally would run people out of the room. But when T had a rash that was eating the skin right off his fanny, that homemade stuff was the only thing that would cure it. Not even prescription medications worked. :faint: But boy, you sure didn't want to hold a baby who was using it. lmao!
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Maybe it's because we live in the south but I never had any issues sending in homemade treats to school parties for my girls. They also made Christmas decorations and had holiday parties but the teachers did try to make sure that everyone's beliefs were respected.

Last year at my high school's holiday choral concert they sang Christmas songs interpersed with songs from celebrations from around the world.

I guess we are just not as politically correct as you northerners. :grin: We still have a Christmas tree in our front office every year.

I'll have to ask my next door neighbor who is an elementary school teacher if homemade treats are still allowed. It's been a while since easy child was in elementary school.

~Kathy
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
<span style='font-size: 11pt'>The pendulum that swung from celebrating only what the majority celebrated to the opposite of celebrating nothing seems to have begun to go back to middle of the road. Hopefully understanding will create more common sense.

I remember the young man who didn't celebrate St.Patrick's day because he was Irish Protestant. He tells how hard it was as a little kid. Most of us think of St.Paddy's day and a benign holiday where we are all a little Irish. He found it difficult to be so different. No way would his parents celebrate that holiday.(they were born in Ireland)
Having our culture change and accomodate everyone is bound to have stumbles and mistakes. Not everyone is of similar faith, culture or traditions. I think it's better that we embrace more and learn more about each other. We keep breaking people up as groups that are different but really as I have lived in several parts of the country, we are all more similar than different. I hate being called a northerner and I am not a Yankee. The implication is something I find insulting. Just as anyone who stereotypes Southerners. I find it insulting or just mindless as well as untrue. I grew up in the north but have lived in the south for a long time. There are enough idiosycracies in both cultures that neither has bragging rights to being better.

I think everyone should live in an area where they are the minority for a while so they can feel what it feels like and how it brings up fears. It's a wake up call of how it feels to be the "different" ones and not making the rules. I lived in Miami for quite a while. I was a minority which changes voting for laws and how we celebrated and what the culture was. It was surprisingly unsettling. The area didn't revolve around what I viewed as typical. I loved the city and the culture but it was different than mine.


Hopefully we can evolve into understanding that all people think what "they" believe is right. All people who believe,believe strongly. Wisdom dictates that we grow admiration and respect of others. Their kids get to feel their holidays are honored and we all allow others the benefit of the doubt. If we don't learn from history, we are bound to repeat the same atrocities. People who were different were characterized as bad/evil. Eventually they weren't just working people, they were evil and had to be exterminated. Big error over and over thorughout the ages.

So common sense needs to be used as well as educating yourself about others. Meeting and interacting with those who are different from yourself makes you see they are just like you in their souls. It's just the social trappings that are different. Most people want a safe neighborhood to raise their kids, a steady job, health insurance and respect. It goes across the board in all areas and all faiths.
Having a bit of rum on sore gums is not going to make a child an alcoholic but drugging them with sodium pentothal may. Where is common sense? </span>
 

Sue C

Active Member
Years ago at a used book sale, I found the exact music book I had sung from in elementary school (in the '60's). There are Christmas songs--including religious ones, spiritual songs, folk songs, Indian (Native American) songs, cowboy songs, and patriotic songs including America, the Beautiful which includes the words "G-d shed His grace on thee." I wonder what kind of songs are in the music books today??

Sue
 
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