DT> I rather like this judge.  This idea of kindergartners being repeate
DT> late to school as a result of being too tired because of late nights
DT> hits close to home.  Whose in charge here?  The kid or mom?  In my 
 
Hi Dan,
 
  (PMFJI) Precisely, how is the child going to learn the importance of 
being on time if it's not taught (and reinforced) early at home? 
 
DT> _trying_ to accomplish here). What Mommy needs to do in this situati
DT> is to get junior on a routine and stick with it.  My own children we
 
  and...
 
DT> But I fear you are right here Matt....I don't think the courts can 
DT> effectively "police" poor parenting skills.  Except in the case of 
DT> extreme abuse and neglect, the courts may have better things to do w
 
 Exactly, it's really a sad state of affairs when the courts feel 
compelled to get involved as they have in this case, it is clearly 
something that should have been handled by a parent being...a...parent. 
It's amazing the value of demonstrating a reasonable routine to kids at 
a young age, reinforcing it as they grow up and et voila, as teens and 
young adults they have some concept of why it's important. (been there, 
done that, we have 4 daughters ages 7-17 and it's worked well for us).
 
DT> parents will turn things around.  I have even called students at nig
DT> and told them to get a good nights sleep because we were going to ha
DT> busy day tomorrow.
 
  Wow that's great, sometimes that little extra bit has a huge positive
impact on the child.  My 1st grader made a braclet for her teacher and 
presented it as a Christmas gift during their class gift exchange.  The 
teacher wore the braclet for the next two days...you can bet my little 
one made note of that and was absolutely beaming.  The teacher "valued" 
something she did.  Last year my daughter's (then 3rd grade) teacher 
would call the house and chat with us for a couple of minutes, when we 
told Janette that her teacher had called and we just chatted for a bit, 
she was all smiles (stuff like that usually prompts the 2 youngest to 
"play school" for the next few days).  This approach may not be 
practical for everyone, but my hats off to those that can and do use 
it.
 
Dale
--- TriDog 10.0
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