Putting the Fun Back in DiscrimFunation

The other day was opposite day at Owen's school, where kids wore their shirts backwards and such. We carried the theme over to home where we had breakfast for dinner, and now here to CloudEight, where I am doing the opposite of what I usually do by actually posting. Oh, and by not being funny.

This past week also saw some crazy Martin Luther King Day activities over at the grade school and, apparently, the pre-school. We were talking to Owen about MLK over breakfast at dinnertime, when the twins broke into the conversation. Cooper declared "Hey! We know that guy!" Hayden followed up by telling us "some bad people put a brick through his window." Props to the Catholic pre-school for trying to tackle a tough topic, I guess, as at least something seems to have stuck in their little three year old minds.

Meanwhile, over at First Grade, Owen, as part of the educational MLK celebration had filled in blanks in a worksheet intended to provide an opportunity to talk to our child about "values and dreams." It had a "Martin and Me" chart where it listed things like MLK's favorite games (baseball and Chinese Checkers, FYI) and Owen would then list his (soccer). In the "Dream for the Future" column, MLK had "fairness for all." Owen's dream for the future: "toys." I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that the "for all" after toys is implied.

The "First Grade News" Owen's teacher sends home each week also noted that the class had "participated in some fun activities to allow the children to see what discrimination feels like." Wow. I mean Wow. What to say. It almost sounds like it should be called discrimfunation. Anyway, Owen hasn't talked about it, so I assume it was fairly mild, like making one kid wear a Packers jersey.

And it is on to the next holiday, Valentine's day, where the kids can participate in some fun activities to see what having your heart broken feels like.