Smiling Mom

I am a public school teacher and I work in one of stron­gest aca­de­mic dis­tricts in the Bay Area. The school I teach at rou­ti­nely ranks in the top five in Cali­for­nia. It’s that good!

My school is also a ‘choice’ school, mea­ning that it is stu­dents come from all over the school dis­trict. You have to choose to send your kids there. The­re­fore school admis­sion is based on a lot­tery. When a child’s num­ber is called a parent almost always pulls their child out of their current pri­vate or public school to enter ours.

I know what great teaching is all about. I’ve seen both sides, the good school envi­ron­ment and the bad.

This is the best.

So why am I fret­ting about school?

Sim­ple. I don’t live in the school dis­trict in which I teach.

Teachers can’t afford to buy a house there.

I have two chil­dren. My oldest will enter kin­der­gar­ten a year from Sep­tem­ber and he can­not go to the my school.

Kinda stinks, doesn’t it?

Often one of the bene­fits that many school dis­tricts offer their teachers is auto­ma­tic admis­sion for their chil­dren. On top of it being very con­ve­nient for us, it also ensu­res the dis­trict that we teachers stay put for the dura­tion of our children’s schoo­ling careers. Teacher reten­tion is quite a pro­blem in Sili­con Valley. It’s a win win.

But since my school is a choice school, my own chil­dren don’t even have an option of attending.

So I fret.

I’ve seen great. I teach at great. I want great for my kids.

The school dis­trict in which I live is alright. It’s neither great nor bad. My kids will pro­bably do fine while atten­ding school in this dis­trict. But then I think, Is alright good enough for my children?

No.

My hus­band and I have dis­cus­sed pri­vate edu­ca­tion, moving, public schools, pri­vate schools again.… But truth be told, two public ser­vants living in Sili­con Valley simply can­not afford a mort­gage and one pri­vate school tui­tion, let alone two tui­tions as my daugh­ter enters school.

So we’re stuck. Pri­vate school costs too much, while public school just might not be great enough.

When it comes down to it, I’m just as con­fu­sed as the next mom trying to do her best by her kids.

Any sug­ges­tions?

Ori­gi­nally pos­ted at Sili­con Valley Moms Blog

**To get caught up with our ongoing vasec­tomy story please click over to part one and part two.

Today’s post will conc­lude this series… told through pictures.

An actor has been brought in to play Hubby. I took liber­ties That actor had the free­dom to inter­pert that day’s events as she saw fit.**

V-Day sho­wed up last Fri­day. Smi­ling Mom and Hubby both took the day off work to head over to the uro­logy depart­ment down at Kaiser.

Smi­ling Mom offe­red Hubby some ibu­pro­fen before the surgery.

Hubby gave me a stern look and said no. I have no idea why!

We hea­ded over to the uro­logy depart­ment and wai­ted for Dr. Snip-Snip to come take Hubby away.

OK, so maybe it was more like this, but really-whose story is it anyway!

Hubby was in and out of the pro­ce­dure in a measly 35 minu­tes and was ready to go home.

The doc­tor said sit on your butt, and relax for 24–36 hours and make sure to ice your wounds every 20 minu­tes for the first 24 hours.

So he did. Hehe.

All the while, Hubby ten­ta­ti­vely exc­lai­med, “It’s not that bad… I thought this would hurt worse…”

And I thought, “Phew! I won’t be gro­ve­ling after paying for this vasec­tomy FOREVER!!”

Then I began to read up on the post-operative requi­re­ments for vasec­to­mies; a man has to, ahem, ‘get rid’ of his little sper­mies 24 times in 6 weeks before the pro­ce­dure can be dee­med complete.

After doing the math

And rea­li­zing what that means for me… I felt the need to borrow Hubby’s cold compress.

So at this point my post has to come to an abrupt end.… Hubby’s calling.

I’m over at Sili­con Valley Moms Blog today. And wri­ting about a very con­tro­ver­sial topic, toy guns. It’s get­ting some pretty inte­res­ting com­ments. Click on over and share your views too!

Gun­play is such a hot topic. Should we let our kids play with guns? Should we ban them alto­gether? Are moms who let their kids play with toy guns ‘bad’ moms? Will I raise an overly aggres­sive child if I allow him/her to play with guns? Will my chil­dren and I be shun­ned by the other moms and dads if we own a toy gun?

These thoughts have all gone through my head.

Am I making the right deci­sion? Will my deci­sion harm or alter the course of my children’s lives?

Well today I’m outing myself. My chil­dren each have a toy gun. Don’t shoot!

And my hus­band and I gave those guns to our kids at Christmas.

Phew, I said it. I can just feel the looks of shock and horror coming across the com­pu­ter screen! And frankly, I unders­tand. With all of the school shoo­tings and other highly publi­ci­zed atro­ci­ties occu­rring within our country, it’s no won­der many moms I know shud­der at the though allo­wing their child to know about, look at, or touch a toy gun.

To finish rea­ding this post click on over. Make sure to leave your com­ments (no fla­ming please!! :0)