The very best part of a kid’s school year is summer vacation.  Parents, PLEASE, refrain from telling the kids you dread the days he or she is home from school.  Can you imagine, your mom or dad telling you they’d rather you were in the care of strangers?  That sentiment does nothing for a child’s confidence.  So, this summer, let the kids know how much you appreciate their presence.        

This is God’s honest truth.  At the end of the summer, my mom would tell us 5 kids how lonely she was when we went back to school.  That made us feel important.  That made us feel loved.  To this day, it made my mother my angel.  Just trust me. It’s important to tell your kid you like them around.  In fact when parents utter the words, ‘I can’t wait for school to start’, it says volumes about the parents.  …and not in a good way. 

Education in the USA will never compete globally until school time can be dedicated to academics, instead of parenting.  Schools teach stranger danger, healthy eating, bicycle safety, safe dating, proper diet, drug education, anti-bullying, the hazards of the Internet…actually there are too many to list.  In traditional countries, parenting is done at home and students learn academics in school.   Schools are expected to combat every societal ill.   Can you imagine what can be accomplished if we taught academics full time?   U.S. kids are equally capable as kids in other countries.  The focus of our educational system is not.