Yep, you are absolutely right - I lost sight of that in my rant. I wasn't
thinking in terms of parenting classes. I was thinking in terms of the
schools teaching children how they should dress... I don't see dressing
taught as a class (well it could be part of the health class) but any
teacher who notices a child that is not dressed for the weather should
certainly investigate and deal with the cause (not enough money to buy
close, parents don't have a clue, etc.)

I'm a very strong believer that parenting classes be required in schools and
that there is head start for those children that come from disadvantaged
homes starting at as early of age as possible. The formative years are from
birth to 4 years of age and by the time schools get some kids it is too late
for them to ever catch up. I had a friend who was doing research in the
city and had mothers in with their babies from different areas of the city.
One young mother who obviously cared about her baby enough to be involved in
the study noticed another mother talking and interacting with her baby.
Later this mother asked the researcher if she was supposed to be talking to
her baby. Kids having kids think their babies are dolls that you just put a
bottle in their mouth, change them when necessary and that is it. They
aren't "bad" parents. They just don't have a clue and we are so isolated
from one another in society now that there is no one there to show them.

People are so penny wise and pound foolish. They don't want to spend
pennies to make sure children are educated properly and then they spend the
pounds to build prisons and cover the cost of crime.

DKat

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:10:21 GMT, "D Kat" wrote:
It's not the schools - it is the parents. You have to have training and
get a licence for just about everything except for what is most important
to
our society - being a parent. I was appalled a couple of years ago to
see a
young girl (at most 7 years old), standing outside in sub freezing
weather
waiting for the bus wearing a short skirt with light tights and shaking
with
the cold. The mother was watching warmly from inside the house. They
had
recently moved in next door and had lived in Florida. What do you do at
moments like that? Pull over (was driving to work) and say "this isn't
Florida and your child needs winter clothing you idiot"?
Precisely why schools need to teach things like this. There are
classes on having a baby, but after that parents are on their own. If
they didn't learn something from their parents, or haven't learned it
on their own, how are they going to pass it on to their kids? I agree
that parents should teach their kids, but they can't teach them
something they don't know.

This also gets to a discussion on what's the purpose of a school and
an education. If its just to study academic courses (read'n rit'n 'n
rithmetic) then it doesn't belong. However, I've heard that the point
of a school is to prepare kids for life. In that case, teaching kids
how to prepare for a bitterly cold day in New England is in scope. A
lot more useful and practical then memorizing what year Columbus
sailed the ocean blue.

snip
Seriously, there a lot of cases of frostbite the previous two days -
kids
just weren't dressed properly for the cold and lots of buses ran late
5-10
minutes. I can imagine between that and the heating costs (there is a
constant stream in and out of all the buildings), it was the wiser
move.
Kids weren't dressed properly, don't they teach that in school? Some
common sense classes may be in order

Swyck