He was this big huge duck who, despite his size and age, walked around like a baby. Needless to say, he had an overprotective mother.

I fear that's what to become of many of our nation's children; in fact, it already has in a lot of cases.

Something has always not sat well with me about this whole "parental involvement" trend in education. Every two weeks or so, parents are being called to a "curriculum night" or "ABC Adventure Night" or "Just show your face to prove you're not a deadbeat parent night."

It's not the time commitment that bothers me (yet); we don't overschedule ourselves with tons of activities (yet.) I don't even need to get into a car. I can walk there. It's something less tangible...

Today, I thought of it. To me, school should be a place where a child has his or her own identity outside of the family. With their moms or dads there every second, walking them to and from school (if not driving them!), hovering over them, and now showing up in the evening all the time -- to me, it's not giving kids the space they need to develop separately.

I let UberElder walk home with Uberfriend Claire and her older brother every day. Recently, she's been walking to school with her friend Lalaina (sp? her family's Croatian or Serbian or something) and her grandfather. If it wasn't for the pedophiles and the people who make all that damn money from pedophiles, I wouldn't be concerned at all about letting her walk to school.

I don't know, to me raising a child should be like when you're teaching them to ride a bike. Yes, you should be there in case he or she falls. Yes, you should be there to teach and guide. But if you never let go of the bike, the kid will never learn to ride.

I haven't studied this issue; it's just my gut reaction. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong.