RE: Play Dates Are Vital To Growth & Development Of Our Children @senseicat
Lol...It's a generational divide. In a room of millennials, silence is replaced by an unexpected lol of something someone reads off their live FB/Twitter stream.
Tweens, middle-school aged youth and young teens, tend to be hormonally charged. Most are sleep deprived, as socialist schools have them showing up by 7 a.m., totally upsetting their growing patterns. Middle and high schools shouldn't begin before 9 a.m...jmho.
Regarding play dates, it's probably just as well. These years tend to be transient, as friends made in middle school are usually replaced with new ones in the high school/college years.
It's smart to be the parent who invites the crowd over. That way you can keep close tabs on what's going on with everybody...
Best regards.
Peace.
You made some excellent observations and during the summer, most of the tweens and teenagers do not wake up til late morning or early afternoon. It is quite an adjustment to their sleep wake cycle when school begins.
lol...Of course, by this I meant totally unobtrusive...Everyone knows the golden sound of silence when that age group realizes an adult is 'loitering' around. Now, if you're a 'cool/hipster' parent who can act like a teenager, and engage them in the wisdom of your years, you're then deemed a 'cool mom'...lol...with the kids saying, "I wish my mom was like your mom!" ;+)
Anyone who has studied sleep patterns of various age groups on the most base level, knows the schedules fly in the face of normalcy, particularly for teens. Jmho, but this is prolly a huge reason for the drop-out rate. Girls tend to fall in line and conform; but, it's more difficult to 'waken' the male who's still mentally asleep in his bed, learning info he, too often, will never use in practical life.
Btw, I am a huge fan of unschooled learning. The 'teacher' has to be disciplined; but, so much of what's important in life is learned by living. A trip to the produce section to learn about weights and calculations, and/or learning the names of various fruits and veggies with actual produce, is a lot more of a learning experience than could ever be found in most classrooms. Worth noting, there are some 5-star teachers who live and breath this role, so definitely not taking anything away from them; just worth saying. I'd say teaching is only the second-hardest paid job to law enforcement. Wow...tragically true in too many instances.
Best regards!
Peace.