Kids.... Hmpf

I'm mad. You know the old adage "when I was a kid... blah blah blah". And I'm trying not to say that but damn.

See I'm having trouble with my daughter. It's like a daily thing. There is no avoiding it. We have a failure to communicate. And it's hopeless, because I didn't listen to my parents, my parents didn't listen to their parents, and on and on.

What's worse is the whole education system, a system that my wife is a part of, is pulling the rug out from under me. My kid, by all rights, should be a "B/C" student. I'm not trying to be condescending to her, but honestly that's where I put her. Higher if she tries, but she doesn't. Beaufort County says she's an "A" student, and maxes out with 100's in everything.

Maybe I'm too hard on her you’re thinking. Maybe, but when I ask her something simple, that she should know, and she has no answer, that is not an "A+ student". All the problems she brings home are not an "A+ student". A kid that gets caught vandalizing the school bus is certainly not an"A+ student".

I tried to explain the whole bell curve thing to my daughter; I also tried to explain that she needs to clean her room, both with little success. In my day you had just the really, really smart kids that got 100's on everything. They looked like nerds, because they were. The more "normal" kids, the ones who scored "B's", "C's" and even "D's" were the people who basically had some sort of life. Be it in sports, or an after school job, or really anything. But my daughter has 100 averages in everything; you can't even try to talk to her.

With the PACT test results it was recommended that with her reading level she should read "Pride and Prejudice". We checked the book out for her at the library. She did not read it; she also didn't tell us that she did not read it... until the day before she leaves for the summer. AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

She says the book was boring, and she didn't get it. So here we have a kid who says she can't understand a book that is supposed to challenge her and make her grow, I mean she's allegedly got the ability, but she just won't use it. And all the rest of her friends are behind her...so she says.

And meanwhile the other kid, the 2-year-old says "No talk to me, daddy"

I get no respect.