<p>Mstee – Chicken igloos are the chicken shelters we saw on the Big Island in Hawaii. They look like lean-to’s constructed of two pieces of corrugated metal, about 3 feet high. Each shelter was for a rooster to sit underneath when it rained, and some houses had ten or more chicken huts in the front yard. Cockfighting is illegal in Hawaii, so I guess, they were used by people who raise prize roosters for show. The roosters were beautiful and seemed content to strut around on the grassy lawns with their own private condos. 
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<p>Itstoomuch, sounds like some place I’d like to be right now. </p>
<p>Went to register S for his Senior year this morning, and it went badly…very badly. Unfortunately, they don’t let the Seniors register on their own. Seniors don’t want to walk through the process with a parent in tow any more than a parent wants to be herded through each station with a resentful teenager in tow. I thought it would go smoothly, and for the most part, it did. </p>
<p>Because of this warped system of allowing students to take classes that are a match intellectually, but possibly way beyond their reach maturity-wise (i.e. self-discipline, time management skills, organizational skills, follow-up abilities, etc.), our S is walking into another difficult start. My head is about to explode just thinking about going through it again. I am seeing a repeat of last year with extreme clarity. As I stood there trying to encourage him to consider a more realistic schedule, I was treated like an overinvolved, wild-eyed parent by the two teachers at the scheduling table. Last year, we advised our S on his classes, but we let him make the final decisions. Consequently, he failed two classes, ended up with F’s on his first semester report card, and then announced that he was going to quit h/s. This year, I am going to exercise my authority as his parent, save all of us a lot of trouble, and use up whatever popularity I have left from my PTA years back in elementary school. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, I got to the payment table, and another parent cheerfully told me that it’s NOT my last time doing registration. I get to do it again next year…in college! I said, “No, my kids are on their own in college. My D takes care of her own business, and so will our S,” followed by glacial silence and a telepathic warning, “Don’t push your luck, pal.” </p>
<p>So, I got through our last h/s registration today, and my head is pounding. I have new clarity on why Seniors don’t know what the He-- they’re doing in terms of making college choices. They are under relentless pressure to take courses that look good on paper, but most are not emotionally equipped to balance being a normal teenager with fulfilling the expectations of being junior versions of us. Unlike the generation before them, they have been raised with the belief that anything is within their grasp. This summer, I heard college advisors tell a room full of parents and upcoming Seniors to apply to a dozen colleges, even colleges they can’t afford. Nobody ever died from disappointment, but I think this trend is unhealthy, and it sucks for everybody. </p>
<p>My boy doesn’t do homework, and he’d rather dye his hair and experiment with mustache wax than think about doing AP summer homework. Okay by me. Just don’t tell him that he can get into the Berklee School of Music by farting a Concerto in B-Flat! ;)</p>