WHY?? Yes, this is a rant post.

I will start this one by letting you all know this may not turn out to be a pretty post.

Today, when I walked across the football field to pick up my son from school, I saw something that almost made me scream out in horror; A teacher was bent down tying a child's shoelace. Now I am not saying teachers shouldn't help, however when a child is in grade 3/4?? Should he not have a minimal skill such as tying his own shoe mastered already? WTF is this world coming to when parents are such lazy a$$es that they cannot take the 30 minutes out of their lives it takes to teach a child of 8 or 9 to TIE HIS FREAKIN' SHOE?????

I am horrified at how few skills (considered basic learning) kids don't have at that age, I am not talking about your special needs child, or a child with a learning disability, I'm strictly speaking of your average intelligence child, who can achieve many great things when given the skills, that's all. We as are bringing up a nation of useless, skilless, underachieving children and we are not ashamed yet?? No wonder kids nowadays can do a perfect pirouette for ballet, wear the latest Roxy shoes and designer jeans, have parents that drive BMW's and Cadillacs, yet they cannot even tie their own shoelaces????
This type of parenting does not do your child any service. How hard is it to take the time to teach them a basic skill? It took us a couple of weeks to teach my son, he was 4 at the time. I taught another child in 30 minutes, because she was almost 7, she caught on much faster.
People need to stop treating kids like they are too dumb to learn, or hire someone to take the time to do the job. No wonder north America is failing as a whole. A society increasing in under educated individuals, because nobody takes the time to feed the beautiful minds of children. Children are like sponges, it is a saying everybody knows, they are not dumb, they are extremely capable. Take away the DS/Wii/Computer for 30 minutes each day, teach them skills such as taking turns, patience, simple math, conversation skills, manners, tying a bow on your shoe, and by doing all these things you are not only giving your kids basic life skills, you are giving them a foundation and even greater, you are showing them how much you love and care about them and their future.

I am not the best parent out there, and sometimes I fall back on parenting skills I picked up from my own parents, however, I refuse to think that my son is any less a intelligent human than I was. He has learned many skills that may seem ridiculous to teach a child of 7... he can sew a button, not greatly, but he'll never have to ask anyone else to do it for him. He can tie a good couple of knots and tie his shoes, he can swim (a work in progress), he can ride a bike and a scooter, he can read (he's on the 8th book of "The 39 Clues"), he can add and subtract, we play Yahtzee, the Game of Life, Stratego, and I'm learning to play Chess alongside him. I try to learn if I don't know, and if he asks I am honest and look stuff up for him or with him.
He is reading this post as I type, and he just announced that him and one other boy are the only ones in his grade one class that know how to tie their shoes. Dismal!!

He tied his own shoes last spring for NSD Basketball!!

So there you have it, My rant of the week. Yes, it may sound opinionated, but someone has to speak up for capable children.... I guess my next project will be a tutorial on shoe tying, I want to make it my mission to show parents how easy it actually is, and yes, practice does make perfect, just ask my son David!

I will never underestimate my son's ability to learn!

Cheers and have a great Father's day,
Viviana