Last iteration of it

Two-a-days have begun and we anxiously await the start of classes.

This year is my last shot at parenting a school age child. I'm hoping that it's a good one and it brings my little darling all the things that we want him to take away from childhood. I've been pretty satisfied with the results that we've been getting. It's a fine line between providing detail and bragging of course.

But the course we've taken has brought the kids into contact with some top notch, salt of the earth type people. And they've run into some real toots too. I think they've come away with the where with all to tell the difference. And they're being recognized as some pretty top notch types themselves.

I've been worried that I hadn't drilled Kid B enough on the subtleties of doing laundry and washing dishes. Today he went to the appliance repair center, paid for the repairs, carried the clothes washer home, and hooked it up. I guess if he ends up with pink underwear behind the hot hose going into the cold spigot it will school him better than any of my contrived drills ever could have. The proof of the pudding will be when he leaves the nest and has to find a place to do his washing up.

Meanwhile, Son 1 tells me he has abandoned the laundry service in favor of doing it at the coin-op himself behind several pairs of uniform pants having gone missing. I'm reminded of a story I read where the author talks about meeting the General: "There he was, washing his socks in his helmet just like everybody else".

I'm real comfortable that my kids are well equipped to take care of not only themselves, but of all the others that depend on them.