DadTalk

Economy Hits Children

When I first started writing about the housing bubble in 2004, I feared the worst. Still, seeing the future and experiencing it are two different things.

Like most of my readers, I live in a fairly insulated community where it’s difficult to “see” what is happening to large swaths of America. We read about unemployment and poverty, but you have to know someone or drive around nearby neighborhoods to really feel the effects of the housing crash.

Statistics only tell part of the story, but they do provide some guidance. A record 33.8 million Americans received food stamps in April, reports Bloomberg. That’s a 20 percent increase from last year and a 1.8 percent climb from the month prior.

Considering that official unemployment is at 9.5 percent, it’s not surprising that the number of families needing food stamps has been increasing. Keep in mind that many economists believe the unofficial unemployment rate – people who are no longer eligible for benefits are excluded from official numbrs – is closer to 20 percent.

Winning Is Not Everything

When Seth plays a sport he’s never tried before, the boy quickly breaks down into “I’m a loser, everyone is better” mode.

Do I handle these situations correctly? Sort of. While I try to emphasize with Seth, I oftentimes slide into the tough love mode. “Get over it already!”

This was especially true as Seth practiced his golf on the driving range this Saturday. The self-recriminations were quickly boiling to the top:

“Everyone hits the ball farther than me.”

“The ball won’t pop up!”

“I stink at this.”

What Happened to Last Known Jaguar in U.S.?

 Most people would be pretty freaked out to see a 150+ pound jaguar roaming their back yard. Reports of mountain lions where I hike make me nervous enough.

But the endangered jaguar is also one of the four great cats of the world. And until recently, only one lived in the United States. Now it’s dead after it was snared in southern Arizona near the Mexico border.

The death of Macho B has triggered an investigation into its death, reports The New York Times and The Arizona Daily Star.

I probably would not be writing about Macho’s death if it wasn’t for Seth’s first grade research topic: the jaguar. Seth and Lael fell in love with the cat after watching Dora the Explorer.

Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a National Geographic article on efforts to preserve jaguar habitat by connecting the cat’s broken up territory. Sadly, it is unlikely more cats will show up in the United States as the government’s border fence puts up still more obstacles to the great cat.

One thing we’ve learned about the jaguar: while the cat may go after livestock, they rarely attack humans. Too bad we can’t leave them alone even in the uninhabited parts of our country.

Additional:

• Jaguar Picture: First Caught in U.S.
• Readers Criticize Agency in Macho B’s Death
• I Baited Jaguar Trap, Research Worker Says
• Did Jaguar Macho B Have to Die?

Legislator (Auto)-Responds to Letter on Education Cuts

Below is the first response I've received from three Arizona lawmakers and the governor after I sent them this letter protesting education cuts:

Thank you for sharing with me your concerns about Arizona’s budget crisis and the harm that spending reductions will cause. I share your concerns and want you to know that I am attempting to keep any necessary cuts to a minimum and find other sources of revenue. I am also pushing to give schools and agencies that receive reductions maximum flexibility to move what monies they have around.

Solving Arizona’s $3.3 billion structural deficit is a daunting task and one that cannot be done solely by cuts or solely by a tax increase. It is my hope that we can begin to increase spending for vital programs in 2011, as new revenue sources are found and the economy (hopefully) improves.

PS: Please excuse this form letter reply but the large number of emails I receive on the budget problem makes personal replies impossible.

John Kavanagh
Arizona House of Representatives

Observing an Education Rally From Inside the Parent Bubble

Because of my 25 plus years in journalism, I’ve never taken the liberty of being a public activist about much anything. Can’t be biased, you know.

So it was odd sitting on one of two buses loaded with more than 100 red-bloused moms and kids just before heading off to an education rally in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. I emphasize moms because as far as I could tell, I was one of only four dads, but the other three were also school employees.

The rally was designed to send a message to Arizona Republicans, who are resisting calls for tax hikes to pay for the state’s expected $3 billion shortfall next year, reports The East Valley Tribune. Arizona, like California, requires two-thirds majority to increase revenue.

We arrived at a rally already in full session. (Our school has later release times for older kids, which delayed our departure.)

Letter Dad Implores Lawmakers to Preserve AZ Education

Following cuts to education in Arizona, I decided to send the following letter to my three state legislators and the new governor of Arizona:

Dear State lawmakers,

I ask that you reconsider ongoing and future budget cuts to education in Arizona. While the cuts have been labeled fiscally responsible, I argue that it’s an approach that will cause long-term harm to the people of this great state.

Consider, parents are becoming MORE reliant on public education, not less, as household budgets tighten. And I’m luckier than most, because I live in one of the handful of great school districts found in Arizona. I’m doubly lucky because my son, Seth, has a great first grade teacher who can handle her oversized class of 24 children. But that’s likely to change under continuing budget cuts. By next year, Scottsdale parents can expect larger class sizes. If it wasn’t for an override tax, class sizes would be larger still. The vast majority of children in other school districts are much worse off.

Stimulus Plan Will Pump Billions into Education

Odd are, if you live in a state like Arizona, California or Florida, you’ve heard stories that school budgets have been or will be cut soon. In most cases, this is due to falling property and/or sales tax revenues resulting from the housing market meltdown.

While this is an unhappy development in education, President Obama’s economic stimulus plan may pump $150 billion over two years into the nation’s education budget, reports The New York Times. Congress earmarked $79 billion of the money to help states avoid cutting education programs.

“This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan tells the Times. The rest of the money would go toward rebuilding schools and better fund No Child Left Behind:

The bill would, for the first time, involve the federal government in a significant fashion in the building and renovation of schools, which has been the responsibility of states and districts. It includes $20 billion for school renovation and modernization, with $14 billion for elementary and secondary schools and $6 billion for higher education. It also includes tax provisions under which the federal government would pay the interest on construction bonds issued by school districts.

Providing states huge amounts of money sets a new precedent for federal involvement in education, one sure to provoke attacks from ideological quarters today and risk heavy-handed policy control in the future. Complaints are already flying: “It’s like an alcoholic at the end of the night when the bars close, and the solution is to open the bar for another hour,” Frederick Hess, an education policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, tells the Times.

But for the time being, the news of money going into education may help some parents exhale. After all, we’ve heard rumors in our own school district that class sizes will go up unless more money is found.

So while I’m unhappy about the huge bailouts on a whole, perhaps there is a silver lining for now.

Workbooks Are Parents’ Friend

I’m a strong believer in workbooks, especially for young children. They’re a fun way to help kids learn (while parents clean the dishes or fold laundry.)

Sure, playing with paint is MORE fun, but workbooks are far less messy. Plus, they’ve evolved greatly over the years.

Seth particularly likes math and puzzle books. Grandma bought Seth a Sudoku for kids that used numbers, letters and symbols.

I also use workbooks to extend Seth’s math and English lessons. In the picture, I have Seth refreshing his memory on subtraction principles.

DVD Reviews Reading and Singing Get Dad’s Attention

This holiday season, I have been asked to help sell more products/music/services than any other. Perhaps it’s the state of the economy. Perhaps it’s because I’ve reviewed a few things on this website.

Whatever, the requests have been coming in hot and steady. The majority seem quite worthy. So I apologize to all those hardworking (if not desperate) publicists out there putting their hearts and souls into selling products. I simply do not have the time or energy to respond to all your emails, much less write about them. You’re not doing anything wrong, so don’t beat yourselves (or me for that matter) up.

Every now and then, though, something catches my eye. In this case, I liked a San Francisco publicist’s SHORT and sweet email. (Long ones cause my eyes to glaze over.) Check out this simple opening pitch:

I’m a publicist representing a number of nationally recognized, award-winning children’s musicians.

When it comes to music and DVDs, award-winning generally means better. Not always (it depends on the awards of course) but often.

The publicist asked if she could send me some CDs and DVDs. Since I liked what I saw on her website, I said sure. She’s already sent me two DVDs:

The first is Readeez: Volume One, in which a cartoon version of a dad and daughter chat onscreen and sing songs. Every word spoken is printed in large easy-to-see text on the screen, which is intended to help kids learn to read. You can see samples on the website. My 6-year-old son, who already is reading at a level beyond half the adults in this nation, loves it anyway. Hopefully, my daughter will pick how to read.

The second DVD is Princess Katie and Racer Steve Live. Cartoon figures also play a role in this concert video, but they play a much lesser role. While I suspect the concert might have been a bit too loud for kids AT the concert, it’s great at home because parents control the volume. Princess Katie’s voice is reminiscent of Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs fame, by the way.

The concert includes puppets, silly outfits, happy horn players and a lot of energy. While watching, we had both kids dancing on the floor of our play room. Seriously, the music is a lot of fun.

So, if you’re still trying to figure out what to get your kids for the holidays, you now have two ideas worth considering.

The River Nile

Seth’s first grade class recently finished a project on ancient Egypt, in which they studied how the Nile River served as the lynchpin to feeding those living in the harsh desert environment. Part of the project was to grow “crops” around and aluminum foil “river.”

Working with three classmates, Seth was the lucky winner who got to bring his project home. As you can see, Seth’s Rye grass crops are doing quite well.