Don’t think that the irony of this is lost on me…
Before I had children, I didn’t have a lot of ideas about what I’d “never” allow my children to do. I didn’t have a lot of moments in public saying, “When I have children, you can be sure that I’ll never let them…” or, “I won’t ever tolerate…” and to be honest, for the most part, I still don’t. I figure, you never really know what led up to a situation, so you can’t just judge a bad parent (unless it’s abuse) or a bad kid. As a matter of fact, the only real “I’ll never” I currently have involves Heelys, or other shoes that have wheels built into the heel. What a disaster those are…
I did have a few things I *was* sure I would “never” do, however. The first was homeschooling. Even one year ago, I was certain that I would “never” homeschool my children, for a variety of reasons. And now here we are, almost 3/4 of the way through our first year of homeschooling, and planning next year. Yes, my variety of reasons to *not* homeschool went away, and now I have a whole new variety of reasons why we *are* homeschooling. Sometimes, it’s still a surprise to me…
The second was sending a three-year-old to school. And in my defense, I still think that a normal three-year-old belongs at home with mommy, not in a school setting. There’s plenty of time for that later. But Moose’s experience is not normal, and so I broke my second rule, and sent a three-year-old to the public school, the same school that my two older children *should* have attended this year, had I not done a 180 on homeschooling last summer.
So, they’re equal and opposite situations…older children at home, where I swore they’d never be, because it’s the best place for *them* to learn, and younger son in school at what I used to think was a too young age, because it’s the best place for *him* to learn.
Yes, the irony abounds here, on several levels…
While it might appear to be ironic I think your choices in schooling actually come from the same underlying belief – you want the best for your children – and you are willing to put aside your personal preferences to achieve it.
Isn't that what all parents should do?