Is It Just Me?

Congratulations, Sox. Well, what can you say? Oh well. Better luck next year.

C didn't make it to school today because she's feeling pretty yucky. Ro is worse but he went to work anyway. However, they insisted he go get checked out, and sure enough, he's got pneumonia. G had a rough night sleeping last night until at last I got her up and let her cuddle with me on the couch for about half an hour of Barney. After that she went down all right and slept through the night. Wonder if it's growing pains? She doesn't seem to have the cold symptoms Ro and C have. J and I are fine.

I got to scrapbook today for a little while. I love having my scrap stuff down in the basement (where I can leave it out!). While G napped and the laundry ran, I got a little bit organized, finished one page, and laid out another. It was nice... no interruptions, the Wicked soundtrack playing in the background. I hope to make this a regular part of my laundry day routine.

I also finally finished the last book of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Yes, it's children's literature, but I'm so impressed at how well written it is. I started the series in January, so it took me awhile, but to be fair, I was in the middle of a huge move and I'm a mom, so I don't get to read quite as much as I'd like to. (Besides, as much as I love to read, I have other hobbies, too, like scrapping and crocheting.)

Anyway, this series, I think, is rather long, and Lemony Snicket is quite verbose, but I loved it. There is so much irony and humor in there, and it isn't all wrapped up nice and neat at the end. On Saturday night C and I read together The Beatrice Letters, a companion book, and that was a lot of fun. We still don't get everything, but there's one more book - The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket - so hopefully that will make some of the things more clear.

On another note... We learned at the beginning of the school year that there would be a harvest dance (at C's school) in November. At the time I hadn't really thought much about it, but guess what? It's here already. And, over the course of the past two months, we've learned a little more about C's friends and what I'd originally dismissed as harmless fun is now causing me some concern.

I spoke with C about it... most her friends have boyfriends, and one has even told her to go away and come back (to their group, I guess) when she has one. Ugh. That's the last thing I want to encourage her to do. There's *plenty* of time for that, don't you think? Anyway, C has been interested in going to this dance, but we talked about it today... if all her friends have boyfriends, what's she going to to do? Especially with the pressure to "hook up" with someone by her friends... sheesh.

With all this pressure to begin romance so early, is it a wonder that pregnancy is a problem in middle schools? Perhaps the schools should examine the environments they encourage, rather than simply pass out birth control.

Is that a harsh stance? A couple of weeks ago I might have thought so myself. But today I sit here with a daughter who isn't ready for hook-ups and who is saddened by not being able to find any one like her with whom she can be friends. Today I sit here worried because my daughter likes to please people, and I wonder if she'll be strong enough to withstand peer pressure. (It's funny because I don't doubt her ability to say no to drugs and alcohol, but I do wonder if she'd rather be accepted by her peers by having a boyfriend...) I know that my daughter understands what's best for her right now (no boyfriends) and has even agreed... but I also know that junior high / adolescence / and even pre-adolescence is a really tough time to go through.

So I sit here a little anxious about all of this, and a little bit angry that the schools even put us in these positions. Why encourage romance and hormones and all that at sixth grade? Am I just a prude? Hmmm. I wonder.