Only One Crazy Person in the Room at a Time….Please! And Some Other Crap!

Okay- so I’m going to be a bit all over the place today, but I had so many thoughts popping in and out of my head that it started to get a little crowded…..

One of my fabulous co-authors, Patina, is the mother of three beautiful kids, the oldest of which just left for college.  During one of our weekly brainstorming sessions while researching and writing our book, she coined the phrase, “Only one crazy person in the room at a time.”  Sage advice, if I do say so myself.  Especially if you’re a mom on the doorstep of the asylum.  That was me this morning.  McKenna Kate began Kindergarten this week and as always, she started off the year with a fantastic display of separation anxiety on the first day of school.  Oscar worthy for sure!  She slowly improved from screaming and crying to whimpering and looking slight wounded.  By this morning she wanted to be dropped off in the big kid carpool line.  #1- I should have known better.  #2- I should have known better.  #3- I should have known better.  I’ve also known my precious little sprite of a daughter for almost six years, and she NEVER does well when she feels pushed or backed into a corner.  I did both with spectacular perfection this morning.

What a fabulous picture.  Me pulled over to the side in front of the entire carpool line.  Me dragging my kicking, screaming daughter out of the car.  Me telling her sternly (because I’m just not a yeller) that she made a choice to go in the carpool line and therefore had to walk to class alone.  I was going to win this battle.  Forget the friggin’ war!  Really?  What was I thinking?  I wasn’t.  I had become the second crazy person in the room and led us both straight to the asylum!

At the end of it all, I ended up leaving child #2 in a running car while I hurried her to class and left her crying on the doorstep.  What a wonderful and courteous good morning to the Kindergarten teacher during the first week of school  The kicker- McKenna Kate attends the school where I used to be the principal.  Awesome!  What a stellar day for a woman who teaches parenting and classroom management classes.

You need to excuse me now while I visit the restroom to practice “I’m sorry,” and wipe the egg off my face!

Thought #2 today is very different from thought #1….that was more of a confession.  This is more a display of my bewilderment at certain athletes.  My subject today- Reggie Bush.  Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I only go to football games to enjoy copious amounts of beer and friend food.  I don’t understand the game.  I don’t want to understand the game, and I really do not know too much about the Heisman, why guys win it or why Reggie lost it.  I do, however, despite my awesome display of stupidity above, know a little something about parenting and values building.

Yesterday Reggie Bush decided to give back his Heisman Trophy.  While speaking to the press, he said the following:

“You have universities who are making millions of dollars off of these kids, and they don’t get paid,” he said. “The majority of college athletes who are on scholarships come from nothing, so that’s where you have a problem, because you make all this money off of kids and you give them crumbs. And then you are surrounding these kids with money and tell them not to touch it.”

Okay- so he makes a couple of points.  #1-College athletes do add to a successful team’s bottom line, and #2- the kids who come from disadvantaged backgrounds are often exposed to opportunities and perks they would not have access to if they were not attending a university on an athletic scholarship.  The part of the quote I take issue with is when he says these kids get “crumbs.”  WHAT?  I had NO idea that a full ride to USC (or Standford, UCLA, Nortre Dame, etc.) could be considered crumbs.  In fact, I bet that my friends reading this blog who attended any of these top universities and had to pay or had to take out student loans would have LOVED to have had the crumbs of a full scholarship that includes room/board, books, food, access to tutors, conditioning, coaching, etc. Yes, these athletes work very hard to be the best at what they do.  However, the sense of entitlement he appeared to display today was unsettling.  I’m not here to judge Reggie Bush, what he did or didn’t do.  What he accepted or didn’t accept.  I’m just here to remind him that hoards of young men and women would wait patiently by the table for a bit of the “crumbs” he’s referring to.

Alrighty then..it’s off to date night w/my husband.  Ciao!