are kids kids anymore?

i love my boys. they are where most of my time and energy are focused. my husband and i do our best to help them find their strengths, work through their weaknesses and provide them opportunities for them to learn and grow and discover who God made them to be.

this evening, i was at our school's 'curriculum night'--a great opportunity to hear first-hand what the expectations are for our kids as students and how as parents we need to do our part to aid in their education.

i want to clarify first that i love school--it is where a foundation is laid for a child to turn into a life-long learner. (a trait i admire greatly and encourage) i believe whole-heartedly that it is not the school's (or church's or government's) responsibility to train and raise my child. they assist parents in the training...but ultimately, moms and dads are responsible to grow their kids up to be grounded, confident, independent, responsible adults.

all that to say, i walked away from the evening overwhelmed by all the standards and requirements that my child has to successfully complete for his grade level. beyond 'normal' homework, we have reading logs and math logs, weekly readers and spelling pre- and post- tests. as parents, we should be doing math facts as we drive them to school, spelling words on the way home, independent reading for a slot of time and then math sheets to help them improve for another time slot of the evening. we should encourage reading before bed and maybe visiting one of the recommended educational game websites regularly each week (maybe a couple times each week). make sure they get enough sleep and a good breakfast because this grade level has an exceptionally late lunch time and we need to do our part to send our kids to school ready to focus and learn.

(we haven't even added chess club and piano lessons and church activities and basketball practices...)

all of it left me wondering, are kids kids anymore? do they know how to play? i mean really play--not us telling them that they need to practice left-handed layups at the hoop, but having nothing more than an open backyard and some sticks and let their imagination go. I remember playing with the neighbor kids in our grassy backyard, sometimes imitating a favorite tv show, but mostly making up our own characters in an imaginary world where a patch of tall grassy weeds was an intimidating forest and the neighbor cat was a vicious lion. i remember having our own 'shows' on someone's back patio and creating our own tickets and mixing up kool-aid to serve as refreshments to our patrons.

it makes me sad that my boys don't play that way. you can't pretend cook with leftover tupperware dishes in the sandbox. you have to head to target to get a special plastic stove and miniture dishes and have an electric outlet nearby (or a small aresenal of batteries) to turn on all the lights and simulated heating element.

i want my boys to learn all that they are to in school and more, but i want them to be able to have time in the afternoon to chase a butterfly or study the anthill or watch the clouds go by. i want them to pretend and imagine and dream.

guess it will come once we get through reading and spelling and math and...