Kids...schmids...ay.

Well we had Phoebe’s birthday party today, (a day early) and decided that it was easier to have all the presents today too. I’ve a feeling that she’ll want to have some more tomorrow, but we’re bracing ourselves for it. There were more adults than children, as seems to be the way with the Thomas family, which was just as well since some of the kids had a bit too much….whatever…. that makes kids behave like complete tossers. When they were off somewhere feeling sorry for themselves because they didn’t get the same as the others got, or some other nonsense, Judy and I were talking about the way that kids are so disconnected from the learning that is only really acquired through failure or through tough and difficult emotional stuff. Children seem to be molly-coddled by our social and school systems…and I do wonder whether its really the best thing for them. Not wanting to spoil this flow, I’ve added a thing that I found on the internet about this very subject, at the end of this posting.

The following are a few pictures of the day, this first one is Phoebe in her new ballet dress with her mat and her balance beam…watching the DVD that came with them. Bless! The next one is Sophie hitting the winning blow to the Pinata doll.

This is the cake that we made, and the last picture is Phoebe, with the remnants of her face paint, drawing pictures of the day (wearing her new dress from Gill...thanks Gill) … Bless!

Ha ha. Anyway, here’s the very true thingy from the web:

What You Should Know

A short list of what every kid should know
about what life is REALLY like . . .

1. Life is NOT fair, get used to it.
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
3. You will NOT make $50,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a fancy car until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger-flipping; they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
11. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
12. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.