Sylvia Toyama

I don't play at the park under construction, I don't run red lights, even if NOBODY is around and the light is taking forever, I don't speak loud in libraries, etc. My husband tells me I'm so "schooled". LOL. I'm trying hard to loosen up. My husbands great at helping me to do that!

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To me, those examples aren't about being schooled, but about respect for others. Skipping the park when it's closed isn't really a burden on my kids, not the way school would be. Waiting at the red light -- unless it's obviously out of order -- for a few minutes is no big inconvenience. Speaking quietly at the library is respectful of folks who came for a bit of quiet time. Just simple consideration.

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I guess I'm trying to figure out the difference between not following arbitrary rules, but not being disrespectful as well. It is a hard balance. My dh loves to go against the grain, I'm too fearful of confrontation to do that I guess.

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It also matters whether the gain is worth the confrontation. Keeping my kids out of school is worth any confrontation. Playing at a closed park? Not so important as to be worth confrontation. Maybe if it's the only park for 40 miles, and my kids really just have to be at THAT park at THAT moment in time. Then again, I've seen enough projects to know the proposed completion dates mean nothing, so I'd have cautioned the kids not to expect the park to be open, and explained that it must have just 'run long.'

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If someone asks how we plan to do preschool. I'll just say that we plan to do it at home, and leave it at that. My DH has NO problem telling people his thoughts on schooling. He thrives on the opportunity to challenge people, I do not.

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That's often a personality difference -- some people are more in-your-face than others. I'm not an in your face person at first meeting, but if pushed by someone I can be. It's just not my first course of action.

Sylvia


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Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.

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Melissa

--- In [email protected], Sylvia Toyama <sylgt04@...> wrote:
> To me, those examples aren't about being schooled, but about respect for others.
Skipping the park when it's closed isn't really a burden on my kids, not the way school would
be. Waiting at the red light -- unless it's obviously out of order -- for a few minutes is no big
inconvenience. Speaking quietly at the library is respectful of folks who came for a bit of
quiet time. Just simple consideration.

I go to the library to read because the house belongs to the entire family. I go to the library
because it's rule IS to be quiet. it's not fair to expect the kids to be quiet at home so I can
read. If my kids need to be loud, we certainly do not go to the library, we go to the park. If
they want to look at books AND be loud, we go to Barnes and Noble, which is a book store
and not a library. We make lists of what we want, get online and order from the library. If
they want a book first, we can stop there, being quiet for the five minutes or so, and then be
as loud as we want outside.