Campaign Promises

My son is 11.  Last week he was campaigning for President of his 6^th grade class.  He needed to come up with a campaign promise and asked for some help.  I told him that the President of anything - his class, the country, a girl scout troop -  should be someone leading the group to be the best they can…. and to figure out how to do that, he would need to identify where there were issues that could be improved.  His answer was more serious than I was anticipating.  He said he was concerned so many kids skipped school, and he would like to do something to make them want to attend.

So, how do you make a middle school child want to attend school? 

There are a myriad of reasons that kids skip.  They are bullied.  They struggle in their schoolwork.  They are not taught that an education is important.  There are problems at home.  They are just rebellious.  Do we try to resolve these problems by reaching out to the kids, or reaching out to the parents?

There is a law here in Florida where parents can be jailed if their child misses more than 15 days within 3 months.  There are other states with similar laws.  I do believe that often a parent is complicit in their child missing school, such as often  the case with bullying, but I don’t think jail is the answer.  I do, however, think it is the parents we need to “get on board” with school attendance.  Parents need more support with dealing with bullying and getting help with learning disabilities.  They need education and guidance in where to go to deal with family problems and rebellious children. 

I hear very often that “people should need a license to become parents” and other similar sentiments.  What we need is parent education and information.  I would love to see some of the money we spent on education, child services, and juvenile justice AFTER there are problems spent to prevent them instead.

For now I’m anxious to see how President  Aiden’s Wacky Wednesday policy (Games, movies, etc., once a week the 45 minute homeroom period) works.  If it encourages at least one kid to show up, I consider him successful. 

Very proud of my child for trying to tackle a tough issue.  I'm not sure as an adult what I can do to help.   When life gets complicated, that's why they have wine!