And you still decided to read this!? Hey, you're my kind of people.
Alright, alright. I just have to say something. I've been thinking about this now long enough to convince myself that I'm not just shooting this off the hip, but when you're passionate about something, isn't that what blogging is for? If not, then I give up.
I got sucked into the whole Moms Against Motrin thing. (That's what I'm nicknaming it for now and I don't mean that to sound derogatory, just don't know what else to call it right now so read hear me out first.) No, I'm not going to link to the drug's site because I'm hoping that soon the subject of this case won't even be available anyhow. Besides, plenty of great blogs are linking to it and providing some nice documentation without doing the bidding of selling the product.
Premise Let me just say up front, I think it's all a worthy cause but I fear things can get out of hand quickly. I believe that even bad publicity is still publicity. I don't want to contribute to the problem but be a part of the solution. Some in the conversation stream have been quick to suggest a complete boycott. I do not believe that boycotting the company is the solution. Maybe the company does good things in other areas in this was an oversight on their part that can be rectified. Here is an article that offers some insight on boycotting.
I do not use the product advertised. It is overpriced in my opinion and the generic version works just the same for me.
Proposed Solution I would like to see the ad removed and hope that theirs as wells as other marketing teams learn a lesson from this. I am attracted to the fact that a group effort such as people using social media tools like twitter and blogs to get that task accomplished seems viable. I would like to think that I, as a consumer and advocate, have a voice and would like to invoke my right to use it.
Conclusion I would like to advocate for methods of child rearing, used but not limited to Attachment Parenting like "baby wearing" and I can only hope that this negative event will shed some light on the subject for new parents considering it. My husband and I used a baby carrier and we feel it had very positive and effective results. I have my wise, dear cousin to thank profusely for giving us our Baby Bjorn as a gift. We never considered wearing our son as a fashion accessory but as a necessity for traveling and soothing in general.
Here is one photo of us when Lucian was just 8 weeks old. Wow. Where did the time go?
Now that you've read the disclaimer, here is my version of the low-down:
The advertising agency responsible for creating ads for the makers of the drug Motrin put out an ad on their website and it rubbed a lot of parents, mostly moms, the wrong way. Not even their own product is going to soothe the bemoaning from many angles this ad campaign has invoked. The ad is in the form of a movie clip which consists of a woman reading a script that matches in cadence with coordinating and artfully-placed typography that flash across the screen along with two-dimensional graphics.
In the opinion of mine as wells as many others, the ad suggests, by use of voice inflection and tone along with classic advertising techniques, that 'wearing your baby is a fad and causes undue pain and discomfort so if you're going to be ridiculous and put yourself into that situation, you should purchase our product.' Certain words used certain ways make it sound like they really don't stand behind baby wearing and they misconstrue the facts about the practice.
The ad attempts to guilt-trip the consumer into buying the product by indirectly insulting the consumer for thinking they are educated in trendy new parenting practices. Not many would dispute that new parents easily fall victim of ads because they are stressed out about making the right decisions for their new baby. This is classic advertising technique when they try to convince the consumer of a need they don't really have and it works especially well on already guilt-ridden new parents. [For example, if you choose to wear your child in a carrier the correct way and don't have any preexisting back pain issues, why would you need this product? You wouldn't, but damn if they don't make it all sound bad anyhow. Not sure about you, but I don't always think this logically when sleep deprived in the first few months of parenting.]
Recently, I learned from several of our doctors, emergency room as well as pediatricians, that ad campaigns for fever reducers have trained parents into over-medicating children to bring down fevers under 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Just take a look at the recent recalls for children's Tylenol products. Several doctors have now told us that by medicating a fever early on, we're actually keeping the child sicker for longer because we're not allowing the fever to do its job in making the child better faster. Drug companies would rather you spend more money on their products instead of letting nature take its course. My mother still finds that hard to believe, but after close to 40 years of being marketed to, I can understand why.
The ad in question for this particular drug, Motrin, has sparked major controversy and it blew up virally on Twitter and in the blogosphere last evening and early into this morning. So much so that Twitter actually choked a couple of times! (Not sure if #motrinmoms is the cause, but it's a funny coincidence.)
I posted a comment on Shake the Salt which is where I first read about it. Here is my initial reaction comment after Dave Taylor told me about it. (By the way, Dave, I still like you even if I don't completely agree with you. You're a good guy!) ok. I bite. I’ll even pick the meat off the bone. When it comes to baby wearing, I didn’t much, but my husband did. According to him, the ad isn’t necessarily offensive, but it is opportunist and inaccurate. I agree except I believe the ad also takes a low blow to attachment parenting practices like baby wearing and encourages the bias we constantly face. I didn’t wear my baby because my back couldn’t handle it, especially not after my stomach muscles had been cut to get my son out via C-section. I know a thing or two about taking ibuprofen for pain — and lots of it. (and I didn’t take Motrin mind you because the generic version costs less and works the same, so you can #suckit Motrin.)
I think the part that gets my goat is the snarky/snooty tone or attitude that the narrator seems to have when reading the script. It would have been one thing if she had said “baby wearing, if not done correctly, can be painful so we got your back.” No, instead, she goes on to belittle it in her tone and manner of speaking. Seems I’m not alone in this, so I can’t be that far off.
I worked many years in advertising so I tend to be even more critical of ads than most. Maybe this is an American movie culture bias, but I didn’t appreciate the word “schwing” used as one of the made-up names for other sling products. Perhaps the ad just wasn’t properly tested or else they would have known that “schwing” is a sexual reference. I felt compelled to mention this since it hasn’t been too long since breastfeeding was attacked by Bill Maher and I still feel the sting of that one. But that’s just me.
I highly recommend reading the transcript and looking at the words that are given emphasis. The psychology of this ad is clearly trying to play to the consumer’s ego. “What about me?” Nothing like trying to guilt you into purchasing their product. Aren’t moms and dads bombarded with enough guilt during the whole parenting experience? What’s a little more? Advertising most always tries to convince you of a problem you didn’t know you had.
This advertising is NOT about bringing awareness to baby wearing or attachment parenting and the aches and pains that might be part of the process. If anything, it’s a tongue in cheek way of ripping on it and THAT is the part I find irresponsible. The makers of Motrin aren’t horrible, they are just like many other ad campaigns who prey on “that demographic” who might be considering baby wearing.
This is a stretch, but I have to say it. Since Motrin costs more than generic brand, maybe you can afford it by not purchasing a fancy schmancy baby sling. After all, just where are your priorities you crazy baby-wearing parents! Doesn’t your back pain come first? Why would you dare to consider wearing your baby in a carrier if it’s so painful. Oh yeah, because “it’s a good pain, for your kid.” Well, if that’s the way you crazy baby-wearing moms choose to be, you better have some Motrin on hand because you’re gonna need it. My opinion is that the Ad Agency for Motrin is ethically irresponsible for playing with this idea because it’s negative propaganda against attachment parents or “fashionable moms” who choose to wear their babies as a necessity — not an accessory.
Lastly, the video player in the ad is wonky. Turn-off. There is no clear indicator of when it’s finished the loading process. I fumbled with it to get it to work, but others might not (as noted in the original blog post).
1. Don’t hate Motrin, be pissed at the ad agency who didn’t properly test this ad.
2. Remember, even bad publicity is still publicity. You’re selling Motrin right now.
3. Spread the word about how good baby slings and carriers really are and what your experience is with them.
4. Buy generic ibuprofen and take some like I’m going to right now.
My Personal Experience with Baby Wearing In the beginning, when babies are little, you have them in the carrier face forward and the back of the carrier helps to support their bobbly head and neck. They sleep so much better when they can feel the warmth of a body and hear your heartbeat. This is a FACT that the ad tries to dismiss.
Baby Wearing is not only for moms. My husband absolutely glowed whenever he wore his son close to his heart. It gave me a much needed break after carrying our son for nine months of excruciating nerve compression and pain during my pregnancy. One of the biggest benefits was that since I breastfeed, the baby wearing for Daddy gave him a chance to bond and negate that helpless feeling a lot of new fathers have. At first, I wondered why he was so eager to be the baby wearer all the time and then we went out to a museum for the first time and I understood. When I was pregnant and fully showing, people would always smile at me when we went anywhere. When Nate was wearing Lucian, he got to get all of that attention. (I kinda felt like chopped liver and it helped me to empathize with my husband more.) He always had a smile plastered across his face whenever we went anywhere because he always wore Lucian so proudly. It was not a fashion statement at all but more so a well-adjusted new father because of the ability to bond better, feel needed and publicly show caring and affection for his new child.
Baby slings and carriers are a great help in traveling and going places. I can not imagine how we would have done it sanely without one. We have traveled up and back to Flagstaff without a stroller which saved room in our trunk for everything else (ten hours of driving). We have flown across the country and back several times with just simple luggage like a backpack on me and the baby on his daddy in a carrier. We didn't have to check a stroller and lug it around. Whew!
Don't Waste Your Time and Money on the Expensive Brand-Name Pain Pills So, here are some links to some nice baby carriers and slings and people who promote them that I thought of off the top of my head. There are many, many more. You can also find them at second-hand shops. Buy one as a gift for an expecting friend or hand yours down if you're no longer using it. If you know of any more, please link to them on your blog and in twitter and help promote the positive effects of baby wearing and other practices of Attachment Parenting. I don't know a whole lot about slings personally but I would love to use one the next time we have a baby. If you know of a great sling you love, please let me know in a comment. I'd really appreciate that!
Several blogs are offering linkbacks and traffic pushing in an effort to bring about awareness. I support that and wish I had the time and energy to link to all of the posts that keep showing up but several people are working on culminating it all together to attain a solution and my hope is that they get the ad pulled and bring about awareness to baby wearing and Attachment Parenting and similar parenting styles. Who knows, maybe stock in baby carriers and slings will go up and it will help the economy in one small way.
It's worth a try and there is only one way to find out.
Hand-Made Mac Tip No. 6 Toddler-Proofing Your Mac with AlphaBaby
I want to tell you about one of my most favorite Mac applications for kids. It's called AlphaBaby and it's a FREE download. It really came in handy before, during and after our recent cross-country road trip. This application is loaded on all three of the computers in our home. We have a G4 in the office, an iMac in Lucian's room and the MacBook Pro - everywhere. The laptop and the iMac each have a separate user account created just for Lucian with almost identical preferences set. Daddy's G4 has the AlphaBaby icon readily accessible in the Dock.
Ready You may remember in a previous post how I detailed setting up a separate user account for your child on your Mac. (I plan on revising that tutorial for OS X 10.5 Leopard once I finally decide on which screencasting application I want to use.)
Set I can not tell you how many times this app has come in handy. You can customize the application for different age groups so when Lucian was an infant, he loved just looking intently at the colors and shapes on the screen. As he got older, I changed the preferences to show letters, colors and lines. Between using this application and a few other online resources, he has learned the entire alphabet before the age of two.
Go This past summer, we went on a cross-country road trip and we drove from AZ to PA and a couple of other states along the east coast. During the trip, Nate drove and I sat in the back seat next to Lucian and entertained him. Having the laptop along for the ride came in handy many times. All I had to do was click onto Lucian's user icon in the menubar and as soon as the cube began to rotate, his face would light up. I could launch AlphaBaby and entertain him for just a while longer until we were ready to make the next stop.
During this long, 2-month trip, Lucian got to see and meet many different friends and family members. The last time we flew out to PA, he was only starting to speak a few words and associate faces of people. A year later and he can now comprehend who people are and he is beginning to learn which family members are related to him and how. Now that we're back home, I want him to be able to retain the connections he's made over the summer. AlphaBaby is a wonderful tool for this because you can set the preferences to allow photos to pop up whenever certain keys are pressed. I didn't, but you can even map certain keys to specific photos.
A Familiar Face In Lucian's user account in his iPhoto album, I loaded 170 photos of friends and family members. I used photos of people he knows locally as well as far away since we have family and friends all over the world now. I even used a mixture of recent as well as older photos of some of the children as well as side views of people to see if he recognizes facial changes and he does! It's amazing how well he recognizes peoples' pictures and can say their names more and more clearly every time he interacts with this application. Before we came home, he couldn't say the name of his new Aunt Joanna, who likes to be called Aunt JoJo. Now, with practice, Lucian can instantly recognize a picture of Joanna as "An YoYo." We're still working on saying Great Grandmom.
It would take some time and effort, but you can, if you want, go into iPhoto and change the title of each picture to the name of the person and then in AlphaBaby, tell it to speak the name of the photo. This works ok, but for harder names, you can imagine the speech to text is not perfect. I prefer us interacting with him while using this application in a flashcard type of way.
Allow Me to Demonstrate AlphaBaby will no doubt come in handy for the future as we get new pictures of people that I can add to his iPhoto library. We just got a new baby cousin a week ago and now another cousin is on the way so as soon as I get those baby pictures, I'll add them to his library and AlphaBaby will add them in at random.
Here is a bad, sorry video I made of PoltergeistAlphaBaby in action starring Lucian teaching his Daddy about colors, shapes and people. (Sorry about the video quality, but I snuck up on them playing and it was night time. I don't know where the knocking sound comes from. The video is from our little point&shoot Nikon. Someday I'll get a better camera when we can afford it.)
The Specs, Ma'am, Just the Specs The computer in Lucian's room is an old slot-load 400MHz PowerPC G3 Tangerine iMac with 512MB of RAM and a 10GB HD running Tiger 10.4x. Someone was getting rid of it and Lucian's uncle snagged it for us and replaced the ailing DVD ROM drive and swapped the HD with one from another iMac we scrapped for parts. It's amazing what treasures people throw away! Check your local Craigslist or Freecycle and give an old iMac a good home. These machines make great kids' computers because, with a little TLC, you can upgrade them just enough to run Tiger and a few simple applications. For little ones, this is plenty. This particular model is even capable of utilizing wifi with a built in airport! I don't currently have it connected to the internet because the airport card in it is a little too old to be compatible with WPA2 encryption. One day, I'll get an old wireless router and hook it up just for this purpose. For now, I have an almost identical user account set up for Lucian in my MacBook Pro with almost the same preferences.
General Under the General Tab, I have it set to just flash one letter or number per key press on the screen and in rainbow colors. Only letters or numbers will show which are mapped directly to the characters on the keyboard. This helps him actually learn keyboarding skills. He is getting better and better about actually pressing the right keys when I ask him to. Right now he's mastering letters and we're slowly incorporating numbers as well. He can almost count to ten.
Images Under the Images Tab, I have the source of the photos loaded from the main iPhoto Library. You can, however, have photos load from a specific photo album or even a folder somewhere else if you're not a fan of iPhoto. I also have it set to randomly load a combination of shapes along with photos since we're still learning colors and shapes. You can see though, I pushed the slider more towards the images since I really do favor photos of people right now since he's learning about family right now too.
I love how this operates in a flash card mode. The pictures pop up at random and repeat at various stages. You never know what you're going to get when you press different keys on the keyboard. He could keep pressing the space bar or any other modifier key and it will show a different photo or shape each time. It really helps him with keyboarding skills because he quickly learns that letter keys result in a letter, number keys a number and any other key results in a photo or shape. He is old enough to make deliberate decisions about what to press. He knows that he will get only photos if he presses keys other than letters or numbers and it's fascinating to watch him make those choices!
Sound Under the Sound Tab, I have it set to speak the letters using the Victoria voice. It's not perfect, but it's pretty acurate. (The text to speech has greatly improved in Leopard 10.5, but for this demo, I'm using the Tiger 10.4 version of the app.) This is the place where I mentioned previously that you can tell it to speak the images. It will convert text to speech by reading the file name of each photo. So, if you leave your photos named DCSN1045, that's what Victoria will say instead of Pop Pop. Drawing Under the Drawing Tab, there are many items from which to choose. When Lucian was really little, I used the stars, ducks or trucks because objects were interesting to him. When kids are really little, you'll want to uncheck the box for drawing requires mouse down. This way, all they have to do is push the mouse or move their finger across the trackpad and it will instantly draw a line on the screen. Little ones don't yet have the hand-eye coordination needed to associate with a pointing device. This tool really helps them grasp that concept much sooner because it draws their eye to a simple line draw which allows them to make the connection between cause and effect of the pointing device. This works well whether it be a single or two-button mouse or a trackpad on a laptop. You can also vary the line thickness. As babies begin to develop peripheral vision, the thickness of the line that appears on screen can make a difference in what they see. If you make the line too thin, they probably will not notice it much. If you make the line really thick, they will take notice of it better and realize the cause and effect relationship between the mouse and screen while their head is pointed down and their eyes focused on the keyboard or mouse.
Hey! Quit It! Oh and, by the way, make sure the FIRST thing you learn is how to quit the application! You have to press the control-option-command-Q keys all at once, so you might want to practice that maneuver before launching it. Make sure you press those keys only or else you'll find yourself logged out instead. After you've mastered that, then practice launching the preferences by pressing (all at once) the control-option-command-P keys. (Hint: it's the same combination, only the 'Q' changes to 'P.')
This is the same video I've embedded in my blog before only this time I'm using Vimeo. I think the quality is much nicer on this version. I'm really concerned with how the end user will view it and I want it to look nice. I was also experiencing a copyright issue with some of the videos I posted to YouTube. (If you've been following me on Twitter, you may have seen my ranting. I'm getting over it now.) I may or may not pull the YouTube videos, I haven't yet made up my mind.
I'm also gearing up for a way to redesign my website a little to incorporate more video tutorials. I'm trying to learn what I can about screencasting and I'd like to try my hand at it. The problem is money and digital space or the lack thereof. My plan is to use some of this blog space to host some video tutorials and then somehow incorporate it as a fixed link on my website TheMacMommy.com
Right now, my blog (what you're reading now) and my website are two separate things, but my goal is to try and marry all of my web spaces together. Sort of like digital quilting, if you will. Since we're scraping by on a single income and don't have a lot of money, I'm using the free space our ISP provides to host my website. There isn't much server space at all, so I'm using that as a means to stitch together all of my other web spaces and online ventures.
So, I may be changing some of these blog posts and titles so that the links can play together nicely for a time when I revamp my website. I need to update my bio and other things, so look for some changes in the next few weeks, I hope!
I'll post more about this subject at another time, but for now I'm just excited to have tried out Vimeo.
I hope you like what I have so far! If you have any ideas or suggestions, I'd love to read a comment. I have it set so that comments get emailed right to my Mail.app into a handy little folder. Let me tell you, it makes my day when I see a comment come into my little folder! Keep em coming! I love to hear from you!
[Edit: I just updated this post and re-embedded a shortened version of the previous video. At 9 mins., I thought it was a little too long so I decided to shorten it by making the slides go a little faster. This one is now just under 5 minutes. I hope you like this version better. If you like a slower presentation, you can still find the original here.]
How to Toddler-Proof Your Mac This is the first presentation in a series I'd like to call "Hand-Made Mac Tips." This is a tutorial slide show video that shows you how to create and configure a separate user on a Mac which will protect your personal data from being damaged by curious little fingers. The presentation is just under 5 minutes long and guides you through a custom user account setup and configuration from start to finish. The slides move quickly so you may need watch it a second time and pause where necessary.
Intended Audience: parents, educators, early childhood administrators Difficulty: moderate, time consuming (but well-worth it!) Goal:After following these instructions, you will have a separate child-proof* user account on your Mac that you can switch to instantly in 2 clicks. You can then allow your young child (kindergarten and earlier) to explore your computer and use it as an educational tool without disrupting any of your important files. Please note that this new configuration will only help to protect your software. You still must work with the child to protect your hardware, i.e. monitor or laptop screen and keyboard. Total Time: +/-20 minutes to watch video and follow along What you will need: A Mac running OS 10.4 x 'Tiger,' some patience and understanding, toddler to test the configuration Notes:Contact me via comments with any questions. I realize the text may be hard to read, so I recommend viewing the video via the YouTube site where you can enlarge it to full screen. There is no sound, just text and video. (This is my second attempt at making one of these.) Additional Resources: Please visit www.themacmommy.com and check out my learning links section where you can find lots of great references to educational software for young children from all over the web. There are even some Windows-friendly links as well!
Please let me know what you think of this presentation and if you would like to see more like it. This is my first tutorial using this slide show method and I'm currently exploring other methods and formats. Any suggestions and ideas would help me make this a better resource.
I hope you find this useful. Any questions or comments, just ask TheMacMommy :)
*Author assumes no responsibility for loss of data or damage. Be wise and supervise children while using the computer!
Science Teachers are in Demand. You Could Have Fooled Me. My husband is a Science Teacher. He teaches high school physics as well as integrated science. He loves what he does, has a passion for doing it and I really admire him for it. I just wish he could do his job and be free to focus on being his best so he could be happy along with it. Being his best is what makes him happy and when he's happy he can be his best. Is that too much to ask?
Unfortunately, life in our home is becoming more and more like the latest lab project: simulation of a landfill decomposition.
I hear a lot of crap about public schools lately and it aggravates me. I am not against home schooling or private schools either. I feel that parents should do what they feel is right for THEIR children. Period. If you want to home school your child, do it. If you want to send your child to private school, do it. Find a way to make it work. Work WITH your children whatever you decide, that is the most important part. So long as your child can become a productive part of society, you're contributing to a greater good. The parents really are in charge when it comes to the education of their children. I wonder how many parents know that. They have the right to say no and ask for more and to make change. (Both the verb and the noun.)
I know that's easy for me to say, my kid isn't even 2 yet, but I have worked inside of the public school system. I've been a student. I've been an instructor. I've been support staff. I've attended public school. My siblings have attended private school. I've attended vocational school. I've attended university. I've served on a curriculum board. I'm married to it no matter which way I turn. I consider myself to be an educated parent and I will use that one day when the time comes for my son to go to school. The plan is to stay involved.
The bottom line is that everyone tries to do their very best when it comes to providing a quality education. You have to know that people who serve in the field of education, any type — public, private, home school — they don't do it for the money! They do it for the passion of educating – to say the least. When I say they though, I am referring to the people in the trenches. The people who are not looking at the numbers and the money and the test scores and the reputation. Those people do it for different reasons and I have a hard time believing it's for the passion and the cause. They do not serve, they manage. Mange to get by is sometimes how it seems. For starters, their pay checks are a lot larger. Their perks and benefits are more bountiful. But they stand a lot to lose if they don't mind their Ps and Qs. Many of them walk away sooner than later and the mess accumulates.
Are you still with me on the landfill analogy?
I'm getting sick and tired of the blame being thrown at the teachers and the support staff. When are people going to look at the administrators and higher-ups a little more closely and hold THEM accountable for the decisions made? It's not just the TEACHERS who have to jump through hoops set ablaze with fire each and every time. We all know how this affects the students, the main cause for the concern, but not many stop to consider the families of the teachers that poor management decisions affect. Burning Ring of Fire [To the Administrators and People in the Decision Making Position:] When you ask a teacher to jump through a hoop, you are also asking his/her class and students jump too. When you ask a teacher to jump through a hoop, you are also asking his/her family jump too. Do you consider the full range of consequences for all involved when you create these rules and mandates? In whose best interest is it really? Where are the measurable goals?
I find myself questioning this often. Like this landfill decomposition experiment, I wonder if we will watch some pieces break down into nothing while some just remain the same.
I'm Proud to be Married to a Teacher, but... Since my husband is a Science Teacher in the state of AZ, the wonderful law known as 'No Child Gets Ahead' mandates that he has to take 12 credits of Life Sciences so he can teach 'integrated' science to 9th graders and be considered 'Highly Qualified.' This is the state of Arizona's interpretation of the law I might add. Never mind the fact that he is able to complete and satisfy the worksheet known as 'HOUSSE' handed down by the state. Never mind the fact that he has already passed a test they recommended he take (and pay for out of pocket) (with flying colors) that was supposed to have proven his 'Highly Qualified' status — and later was decided it did not. Never mind the fact that his transcripts list above and beyond what is needed in credits for a bachelors degree to be able to teach college preparatory physics to high school students. And, this mind you, is just for one of the bachelors degrees he holds – with honors, I might add. Never mind that he was hired first and foremost as a Physics Teacher and is now required to teach outside of his area of concentration.
Multiple Choice
Is this his fault? No.
Does he want to keep his job? Yes.
Is this a threat? We wonder.
Why is it so hard to find and keep good teachers, let alone Science Teachers? See above.
Even though he is good enough on paper and in black and white, pen and ink and number two pencil, it is not good enough for someone and I've lost track of who exactly. The school's CYA file, I believe.
Ok, so I'm not trying to brag about my husband's accomplishments, but I am proud of him and will shout if from the mountain tops. Someone has to. If I don't, who will?
I might also add that they don't even care to specify the courses he has to take. All they want are for the credits to appear on his official transcript. They don't care so long as he gets a C average and the courses are within the area of Life Sciences. Plus, he has to complete it within a set amount of time on top of teaching his normal course load full time. He's now grading homework on top of doing homework.
We're all for professional development to make sure all teachers are at the top of their game, but this is not helping anyone. It's satisfying some draconian mandate and that's all. Where is the Return on Investment? So why am I the one whining about this? I'm just the wife, right? Wrong. I'm the other half of this business venture. It's our bank account that the money has to come from to pay for the 12 credit courses he has to take. Yes, it comes out of OUR pockets, not the school or the state who requires it. That means a larger strain on the one income we are surviving on. Can it be reabsorbed by the umbrella of 'professional development?' Sure. Over time. But who knows what additional expenses will be required. We have no way of knowing for sure if this will be an ROI. There is no measurement in place in order to be able to answer that conclusively. What other occupations require you to spend money to better yourself and then turn around and tell you it's still not good enough?
If I didn't know better, I'd say that the teaching profession appears to be one of the biggest codependent relationships that is continuously exploited at everyone's cost and for no one's perceived benefit.
I also whine because this additional strain in work load not only means less father-son time, but it also means reduced wages for me. That can't be good. Since he's been taking these courses, currently 2 at a time, he isn't as available to help care for our son so I can leave the house more often and go make some money. That makes me a little cranky. I like a break once in a while and I like to make money while I'm on my break. Day care is so expensive that it just doesn't make sense for me to work full time especially for the peanut shells I was making when I did full time in the education services field. One of us doing it full time is bad enough!
On top of the assignments he brings home to grade, he now has his own assignments and labs. So, I chip in where I can getting supplies ready, counting beans, digging dirt, building a simulated landfill in a soda bottle. I can't wait till we get to grow some Sea Monkeys! Yeah, like we don't have better things to do.
