So what can I teach today?
The children of teachers are doomed to their own version of hell-on-earth. All parents tell their progeny what to do; teachers not only tell what but how. Education is a means unto itself. Ask my children.
Today was a version of driver ed. Well, driver ed is reaching a bit, because the vehicle did have four wheels, but there was no driving involved. More pushing, pulling and clearing the jams, if you catch my drift. Yes, today was the first day in my youngest’s career as a lawn mower. Mower of the lawn. The kid with an hour to kill and a lawn to destroy modify.
In a wealthier existence, he might have scored the big one; a lawn tractor, with gears, a clutch and a loud motor. Instead, we have an electric pushmower, purchased used nearly two decades ago and fitted with a daisychain of electrical cords. If you are shy to be seen driving your mom’s “beater car”, try your dad’s old pink Craftsman mower and no fence to hide you from view.
With an electric mower, you have to be “on the ball”; no blindly pushing, or the cord WILL wrap itself around the blade, and you will have the ultimate reason for not finishing the job. Similarly, if you try to go too quickly, the circuit breaker will betray you. Ecological lawn care is an exercise in frustration for a teenager.
The lawn is currently half done. Game called on account of rain is the best analogy in the baseball world. Tomorrow announces sunnier, so we will complete the task at hand (won’t we, son #3). And then we’ll discuss that other term so beloved by parents that are actually bankers in disguise; the allowance.
