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IT IS fascinating to watch my daughter learn to read. She’s been in grade 1 for a little more than a month now and she’s already bringing home her first reading books.
It’s a marvel how her teacher has got her to sit still for long enough to teach her this life skill — something I could never do. And now she’s reading! In one month she’s learnt to read.
It’s not Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time nor is it Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, but I am
impressed.
She’s reading words and sentences like “help”; “lad, look here” and “Dad, look there.”
What happens in her sweet head, I wonder, as she sees and recognises the words which just a few short weeks ago she didn’t know. Read More…
This little baby was born on Monday in a school toilet. The 18-year-old schoolgirl-mum rushed out of her geography class after her waters broke to give birth in a toilet. Her mother didn’t know she was pregnant!
The headmaster of Rakgotso High School in Eersterus, near Pretoria has admitted that teenage pregnancy is a big problem – this young mother was one of 3 girls known to be pregnant in his school.
Apparently Naledi Pandor last year banned the issue of condoms at schools. Eish! What help is that! What’s happening to sex education in our country.
Zuma’s suggestion last year that teenage mothers “must be taken to colleges and forced to get an education so that they can be in a position to look after themselves” isn’t a great option. Instead, these girls and young mothers — and their boyfriends — need sex education. Lots of it.
This is where the baby was born on Monday – see the graffiti:
The time of alpha mothering, with its exhausting attention to school, homework, and extra-mural activity is coming to an end. It’s the era of the slacker mom – lovely benign neglect which allows mothers time to sip exotic sounding cocktails while the children self-educate.
Not only unfashionably a member of the losing team, Sarah Palin appears to be the ultimate old-fashioned alpha mom. Five kids. Neat outfits. Nursing. Career mother. No time for sipping cocktails I imagine.
But hey, there is something neglectful in her attitude to her offsprings’ schooling.
She may not be an Alpha mom after all. She is all for the teaching of creationism at schools.
But not so keen on the teaching itself: she’s has been running around America with her seven- and 11-year-old daughters, Willow and Piper. Her pregnant daughter, Bristol is a high-school drop out. Her son 19-year-old Track left for Iraq under a cloud of rumours involving drug abuse and vandalism.
The younger girls should be in school. So how are they keeping up with their school work? Who is helping out? We’ve not seen any grannies and grandpas on the trail. There certainly isn’t a tutor. A bit odd that there is money for expensive outfits and grooming but none for a tutor.
They must be self-educating. But when? Willow is looking after Trig, and Piper spends much time at rallies looking very bored.
Nevermind. Each to their own. I suppose there are many variations of slacker parenting. We’ll get to know them all as the trend grows.
Picture credit: AP. Piper Palin yawns at rally on Wednesday 22 October
6pm I arrive home after a 12-hour day on the road and in the office. The baby, LS, is naked on the floor. The boy, BB, is jumping from one sofa to the other, dangerously close to LS’s head. HM is whining about her pyjamas which are not pink. I rush to pour myself a glass of wine. Then feed the baby.
7pm Jungle Book is on – again. Nobody watches.
8pm Bigger two are finally asleep.
9pm Baby awake. Grumpy.
10pm Baby awake. Niggly.
11pm Baby awake. Whingy.
12pm Baby awake. Screaming.
12.15pm BB wakes up screaming. HM wakes up. Husband fast asleep. I scream. Nobody notices.
12.30pm HM gives up the whine and sweetly says:”Daddy’s got worms in his ears” and goes back to sleep.
1pm BB finally asleep. Baby drifts off. I read, and sleep.
3am Baby wakes.
5.30am Baby wakes. I can’t get up.
6.30am I have to get up. Husband is going to an early meeting and BB and HM need to get to school – somehow. My lovely nanny has gone to the clinic.
8am Manage to get the children a lift to school.
9.15am My husband returns with colleague to take care of the baby, while I take care of myself and go to work.
9.45am At work, with Vida coffee in hand. All is well. Peace – for now.
