8/1/12 The Loser

I'm at home in a training class this week -- which sounds like it'd make things easier, but instead, it automatically intensifies the workweek.

For starters, these classes insist on using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), instead of POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) (that is a technical term!). I don't care how high-tech something sounds, phones just work better. I especially miss being able to carry a regular old cordless phone around with me, muted, so I can hear the class if I want to run a load of laundry. Instead, I'm bound to my computer and its mike and speakers.

Training classes also means= far, far less time flexibility during the day. Though there's a ton of downtime during the class, like when the instructor runs off with some silly story, I can't count on doing a quick check of something online, or making a phone call -- such as, "Hello, lost-and-found? By any chance did you find a red knapsack with monogramming that says Julian?"

That kid loses SO MUCH STUFF! His record was losing 3 lunchbags in one week during school, but week-by-week, I can pretty much count on something getting lost. Non-parents, or parents with more responsible kids say, "Fine, if he loses his jacket then he goes cold, that'll teach him!"

But in practice, it doesn't work that way. You're not actually going to send your child to school in pouring rain or freezing cold (if we had any) for an entire winter, or without lunch for a whole school year -- and even if you did, it likely wouldn't change his behavior at all. With two other kids, I "get" that kids lose stuff -- but Julian goes way way past regular "losing-stuff."

So, despite my super-tight schedule this week, I drove to last week's Y camp location and retrieved a forgotten knapsack. Enabling him, you might say! But he didn't know the difference. Besides, I really wanted to get that knapsack back because I'd rigged a clever way to make sure his sunscreen was usable, yet was attached to the pack and wouldn't get lost.

The good news is, they're all loving the San Jose daycamp. It's much simpler and lower-key than Y specialty camps -- no field trips or fancy outside visits, and no complex pickup/validation process -- but they all seem relaxed and to really like it. This camp costs $242 for two weeks -- pricewise, it doesn't get better than that -- and they like it!

It's hard to believe school is starting in less than 3 weeks?!

8/1/12