Not so good
The weekend was not off to a good start. Mike was hit with a tummy bug Thursday night and then I had it yesterday. So far both kids are unscathed, but I don’t expect that to last. Mike was feeling well enough to take Erik to his first fencing class this morning, so I hope that goes well. Erik has already said he doesn’t know why he is taking a fencing class because he knows everything there is to know about sword fighting. I’m sure that will go over well with the teacher. Watching too much Power Rangers does not generally give you the ability to pick up a sword and use it correctly.
I went and picked up reading logs from the school yesterday and was quite pleased. We had a much, much better return rate than previously thought. A lot of the teachers simply didn’t turn them in to me last week, and of course a lot of students turned them in late. There is still no way they will reach the goal to have their principal do something crazy, which is unfortunate. I thought I set the bar fairly low, but my expectations were much, much too high.
We let the kids suggest things for the principal to do, then he went through them and picked three he wouldn’t mind doing. The kids voted to see which one would happen, if they read 200,000 minutes (512 kids x 21 days should have been very possible), but two weeks in and we are only at around 39,000. The reading specialist took care of all of that with very minimal input/help from me for which I am very, very grateful. I’ve discovered that it is hard to find people to depend on, but she is totally on top of things. I love her!
I am honestly not even sure the three things the kids are voting on. I think one was a school wide pajama day and one was the principal dressing up like a 70s disco king. Rejected suggestions: do the Harlem shake, dress like a girl all day, climb the flag pole, jump out of a helicopter, sing [various songs], dress like Captain Underpants.
It’s too bad the kids are soooooooo excited, but are not even going to come close to their goal. They don’t seem to have the connection that their actions are what will make this happen. If they aren’t turning in reading logs it simply won’t happen. If I do this again (big if), I would definitely change the goal (assuming the principal would let me. I think he was only on board with it because he knew the kids wouldn’t hit the goal). He’s a nice guy and I don’t have a problem with him, but he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.
****Triggers****
In other, more serious, news. When is this country going to get serious about mental illness? Why do we allow non-compliant mentally ill patients to have custody of their children. Why are their civil rights more important than the safety of their own children (and everyone else, for that matter)? I am not a psychiatrist and don’t have all the answers. Obviously plenty of mentally ill people are perfectly safe and good parents. But there must be some standard. Our system is beyond broken. After years of watching my mom deal with my mentally ill sister, I have seen that there is simply no help available to the family of these people. The mentally ill person must want help, but the catch is that the person is mentally ill so they often don’t even know they need help (I’m talking about non-compliant patients, not those who actively seek help). We’ve basically been told that my sister will never lose custody of her kids until she seriously harms them. How fucked up is that?
That’s the exact same thing that happened with a family in our town last week. The mother and her roommate were both mentally ill, non-compliant. But she’s a mother! She has rights! And now two of her children are dead and her other two children are in the hospital with serious wounds because she went nuts, thought they were demon possessed and murdered them in an “exorcism gone wrong.” Just a hint: if someone is calling herself the commander of the Demon Assassins, she probably shouldn’t have custody of her children. Especially when her method of exorcism is to kill the possessed person.