IslandTime - Carpe Mañana

A few weeks ago, while sitting on the grass watching t-ball practice, feeling like I was wasting my time just sitting there, but not wanting to be a bad parent and leave the not-quite-5-year-old, I realized that I no longer did anything just for me. 

And so I decided that I would reserve one hour each week for me - not cooking for the family, not planting the vegetable garden, not watching pbskids. It sounded luxorious, the way I used to think of a bubble bath. But as I let the idea swirl around inside my brain, I thought that one hour really didn't sound very ambitious - maybe it should be 1 hour a day. Nice, but I realized that I'd be sleeping less, which would just make me more cranky.

Now it is 2 weeks and 6 days later and I am proud to say that I managed to get an hour to myself yesterday! I am quite sure this is mainly a result of the 3 day weekend, but at least I got it done. And based on the data I have collected in this pilot project, I shall revise my goal to 1 hour every three weeks.

&*(#

It's been a challenging, but not bad, week for me at work (and it's only Wednesday). I was so pleased with myself for getting out of the office a little early; I had some idea of an impromptu movie night and happy, relaxing family time.

Upon arrival I was informed that the kid is constipated and the dog has diarrhea.

Now I'm just waiting for the punchline because this has to be a joke.

Expectations

I know that I am guilty of having very high expectations for myself and those around me, and this certainly includes my child. And really, as the parent of "Alex P. Keaton" how could I not have high expectations?

However, even in preschool it seems that expectations must be attainable for all. Based on our meeting with his teacher, it appears that the highest aspiration for a preschooler is to be "ready for kindergarten." This makes me wonder how many 5 (and nearly 5) year olds are NOT ready for kindergarten. Or maybe this is just the latest in grade inflation - Johnny gets an A because he meets our expectations.

It's clear that his teacher thinks highly of him, and enjoys having him in class. At the same time, it really seemed like the highest praise she could give was he is DEFINITELY ready for kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to hear that my kid is exceptional in every way; I was actually a little disappointed at the lack of clearly stated areas for improvement.

It's just that to set the bar at what (I think) should be what most should be able to attain seems to engender at best a striving for mediocrity.