LEMONADE STANDS AND COLORED POOP-THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT THING IN A CHILD'S EDUCATION

Yesterday I discovered something about myself-I’m a terrible father. Yep, I said it, I am a terrible, terrible father.  There I was dropping my oldest son off for his first day of Kindergarten and then I realized I was not even concerned about his TAKS test.  After all, the 4th grade TAKS was only 4 years away.  What was I thinking?  Was I the only parent in that room that did not realize that the road to Harvard begins today!! 

As I watched my little backpack with legs walk away my mind flashed back to just 24 hours earlier.  It was Sunday morning and Greg came running in to our bedroom at his regular time of 5:45 A.M.  “Daddy, I think am gonna open up a lemonade stand so that I can help those poor kids you are always talking about”, he said.  “What poor kids?”, I asked.  “The Chinese kids you always say have no food or toys that your gonna send my toys to if I don’t pick up my room.”, he replies.  Oh yes, I was guilty of the age old, “Eat your vegetables there are starving kids in China who would love that brussel sprout” trick.  Apparently my humor is lost on a six year old and now the soft hearted little twerp has me mixing lemonade and standing out in the 100 degree heat so he can raise money for some made up toyless brussel sprout loving Chinese kid.   Somewhere between stacking up little plastic cups and placing exactly 3 ice cubes into each cup I began to see the world through his eyes.  In his eyes the world is a place where a six year old can wake up at 5:30 and make “around 159 million dollars” by selling lemonade.  In his eyes if you have money you should send it to people that don’t have toys and food.    In his eyes a real “science experiment” involves giving the family dog blue crayolas covered in peanut butter then waiting 24 hours to see if we can find the colored poop in the back yard. (Ever since he discovered this trick our backyard has looked like Easter Sunday all year long.)  In his eyes school is a fun place, learning is cool, and teachers are to be hugged at the beginning and end of every class.

I have many hopes and dreams for my son as he starts this school year and I can honestly say that none of them have to do with TAKS, AYP, NCLB, or school ratings.  I hope his teacher loves him as much as I do.  I hope she fuels his passion for learning more than ever.  I hope she laughs at his silly knock-knock jokes, smiles when she sees him every morning, and hugs him everyday.   I hope at the end of this school year he still wants to help the poor Chinese kids that don’t have toys or vegetables. Most importantly, I hope he still loves colored poop!!!!